Soul Wizardry: The World Phenomenon
by Electro DGX
Summary: On a perfectly normal day, Natsu Dragneel comes back from a mission to find everyone missing from Fairy Tail. After Erza finds Lucy and Natsu, they go to the world of the living where they meet up with Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihōin, and Gajeel, being the first to witness the missing guild-mates. Soon after, a mysterious person comes in their aid. What'll happen next?
1. Chapter 1: Dimensions Combined

Chapter 1: Dimensions Combined

A perfectly normal day, nothing gets more normal than that. Anything more normal could get boring. On this normal day, a young man is seen walking around with a blue exceed flying around with him, both heading to a famous guild called Fairy Tail. The guild was the most popular and well-known guild of the time. The young man, Natsu Dragneel, wasn't to be seen hesitating to return to the guild. He felt at home there, and without it he wouldn't be Natsu. He had also gotten something for Lucy Heartfilia, a member of the guild that had joined recently. Not that he had any crush on her; he just thought it would be exactly what she wanted. As Natsu heads to the guild, his exceed, Happy, flies around him excited as they both head to the front doors.

"Oh boy! She's gonna go crazy for this!" Happy shouts excitedly, despite the fact that he always made fun of her in the past. Before Natsu could respond, they got to the front doors of the guild. Natsu pushed the doors open with excitement rushing through him, declaring his return from his previous mission.

"Hey guys! I'm back!" He shouts happily. However, there is no response. The only thing there is the empty sound of the air passing through. "Huh?" Natsu says confused, looking all over the guild and seeing no one there.

"What?! There's no one here!" Happy says shocked, as still nothing comes to prove them wrong.

"What? Where did everyone go?" Natsu asks confused, as he starts walking around the place, calling out random names to get their attention.

"Lucy! Gramps! Gray! Erza…" He continues, shouting random names as he still continues to get no response in return. Worry starts to fill him as he starts wondering why there would be absolutely no one in the guild. Everything was in perfect condition, and nothing with the guild itself was wrong. "What in the?! Where is everyone?!" He shouts confused, as Happy spots something after repeating Natsu's actions.

"I think all our friends could've gone in here Natsu," says Happy, pointing to a mystical looking portal on a wall of the guild. It had a strange purple outline on it that emitted strange purple flames about every 2 seconds. Natsu walks over to the portal as he and Happy both stare into the portal with confusion. Seeing inside it, they saw a bunch of red, brick-like walls in the portal.

"Wanna go exploring!" Natsu says excited, as he jumps into the portal, with Happy following behind him.

"Aye sir!" Happy says happily, as they exit the portal and land into the area. The area starts to look like an underground sewage system. The portal behind them closes, as they hear it close and shout in panic. "Natsu! The portal just closed!" Happy says surprised, as Natsu starts to somewhat panic.

"What! You gotta be kidding me!" He shouts upsettingly, looking around in the sewers, illuminated by torches hanging amongst the walls. Turning to the left, he continues to rumble on about how stupid this is while walking down the sewers in the strange way that he normally does. Walking around for minutes on end, he seems to get nowhere in finding out where he is. "What the heck is this place?" Natsu asks out loud, as he continues pacing through the sewers. Suddenly, a loud rumble is heard through the sewers, as they hear something loud going on above them. "What the!" Natsu shouts surprised, as Happy flies up and finds an exit out of the sewers.

"Hey Natsu! Look what I found!" Happy shouts to Natsu, as Natsu gets excited when Happy opens up the square opening out of the sewers.

"You did it buddy! Now let's go!" Natsu says excitedly, as Happy says, "Aye sir!" and picks Natsu up, flying out of the sewers. Landing on the large, beautiful, white tiles on the ground, they see numerous buildings destroyed all over the place. It was like a massive bomb had been dropped and it caused massive, earth-breaking destruction. Shocked, Natsu and Happy roam the place to find out where everyone from Fairy Tail is. They do so while observing the strange destruction of the entire place.

"The whole place is destroyed!" Happy shouts shocked, as they see various pieces of wood falling into large piles of rubble.

"Yeah, well I hope my friends are alright." Natsu says both concerned and confused, itching the back of his neck casually. While they continue walking through the place, Natsu starts to notice strangle ripples in the sky. Pausing for a moment, Natsu looks at the ripples while Happy starts to question him. The ripples begin to warp, and eventually a strange hole in the sky is formed. Natsu and Happy both shout in shock as they see the hole in the sky.

"What?! A hole just opened in the sky!" Happy shouts shocked, with Natsu going crazy about it. A weird, ugly-looking monster then comes flying out of the hole, shocking both Natsu and Happy even more.

"Since when do monsters come out of holes in the sky?!" Natsu shouts shocked, as the monster starts to head for them.

"Looks like the monster is coming after us Natsu!" Happy informs, as Natsu engulfs his right fist in flames.

"Oh yeah! We'll see about that!" Natsu shouts, as he jumps towards the monster at high speed. Noticing the weird mask the monster is wearing; he targets it and manages to land a direct hit. The monster painfully falls to the ground, painfully making a small crater in the process as Natsu lands back on his feet.

"That did it! Now I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouts pride-fully, while turning around to look at the monster. However, the monster gets back up on its feet, now with a partially cracked mask from Natsu's attack. Natsu quickly gets ready to pound on it again.

"Time to do some butt-kickin!" Natsu shouts fired-up, ready to charge at the monster once again. However, a large sword is ran through the top of its mask downward, surprising Natsu as the beast vanishes into thin air afterwards. Before the two of them stands a scarlet haired woman, covered in armor. "It's Erza!" Natsu shouts happily as Happy starts cheering. Erza quickly turns around to see Natsu, relieving herself when she realizes that it really is him.

"It's you two." Erza says relieved, walking up to them as Happy finalizes his cheering for finding her. "Why aren't you at the guild?" Erza asks seriously, as Natsu and Happy lose their cheery tone. "Is there anyone at the guild Natsu?" Erza asks seriously, forgetting about her first question as Happy starts to explain.

"When we came their earlier, everyone was gone!" Happy explains, as Erza starts to worry over the matter.

"It's just as I thought." She says upsettingly, gripping her sword tightly.

"Are they at some kind of party or something?" Natsu says casually, as Erza starts to give him orders.

"Something's wrong. Why aren't they at the guild like they should be?!" Erza says frustrated, before telling Natsu what to do next.

"We're going to have to start searching. Natsu! I want to you patrol the area and look for any members of Fairy Tail! Understand?" Erza orders, as Natsu and Happy start running off, though confused about the situation. Erza starts running down the opposite direction, doing the same thing while fighting off the weird monsters from the sky in the process. Natsu does the same, but for some reason has more trouble with the monsters than he expected.

"What's with these things?! They just keep coming!" Natsu says frustrated, continuing to run around the place in search for the missing Fairy Tail guild mates.

"Looks like more are coming Natsu!" Happy informs, as three holes appear in the sky, causing Natsu to panic.

"What?! How can there be three holes in the sky?! This is crazy!" Natsu shouts surprised, as the monsters start getting closer to them and Natsu gets ready to pound them down, engulfing his fists in flames once again. Erza, on the other hand, is running through the area while dealing with her own troubles. On her way there, she encounters another one of the strange monsters, cutting it down angrily before she's stopped by someone in front of her.

"Who are you?! I demand that you answer me!" Ezra says angrily, as she stares at the woman in-front of her. The woman with the long, purple hair, orange over-shirt, and black stretch pants, only closes her eyes and smirks, as Erza starts flaring up over her.

"You certainly on edge, aren't you?" The woman teases, as Erza holds her sword out in-front of her angrily, preparing for an attack if necessary.

"I asked you a question. Now answer me!" Erza demands angrily, as the woman opens her eyes and looks back at Erza in response.

"You don't need to get so angry. I was just teasing." The woman states, with Erza being further offended by her comment.

"It's okay Erza! She's with us!" A young womanly voice shouts, as a blonde woman comes running through to Erza. Erza then calms down upon seeing the woman, being surprised in the process.

"Lucy!" Erza say relieved, as Lucy runs up to her happily.

"Don't worry about her! Something tragic happened at the guild, and I ran into her in this place…" Lucy goes on explaining cheerfully, as Erza starts getting second thoughts.

"Are you sure she can be trusted?" Erza interrupts, causing Lucy to pause as the woman makes a witty remark.

"Now, don't be shy." She teases, as her smirk fades away and she gets more serious. "If you want my help, then you'll need to come back with me to the world of the living." The woman explains, as Lucy and Erza are startled by her explanation.

"What?!" Lucy says confused, as Erza jumps in.

"What do you mean by _the world of the living_?!" Erza demands, as the woman explains that she'll tell her later. Meanwhile, as Natsu is fighting off the monsters and searching for the other guild-mates, he runs into a man wearing a stripped green and white hat, a dark coat with a dark green shirt and pants underneath, along with brown sandals.

"Who the heck are you?!" Natsu says angrily, as the man merely tips his hat down while holding a brown cane in his right hand.

"Now now, no need to get angry here." The man says calmly and carefree, prompting Natsu to engage him in battle.

"You better answer me! You think that cane's gonna stop me!" Natsu shouts angrily, while charging up to the man with flame covered fists. The man merely smirks, grabbing Natsu's wrist while admiring the flames on his hands.

"You can emerge yourself in flames and use it to attack me. That's quite impressive." The man says calmly, as Natsu is shocked of the man's ability to stop him using only on hand.

"How did you do that?" Natsu says frustrated, as Happy looks on in surprise.

"Oh wow! He just grabbed your wrist with one hand!" Happy notes, as the man tips his hat back up.

"You want to know where your friends are?" The man asks Natsu, as Natsu is knocked out of his state of shock, looking at the man with complete surprise.

"Follow me back to the world of the living. I'll explain everything from there." The man says calmly. The woman in orange appears with Erza and Lucy, as Natsu and Happy notice Lucy, while the man smirks at the woman. "Ready to go back?" The man asks the woman, as the woman looks up at him with a similar smirk.

"Since when do you have to ask me that, Kisuke?" The woman asks, as Kisuke tips his hat back down and holds his cane out in-front of him, turning it like a key in a lock.

"What's with you holding out your cane like that?" Natsu questions, as a white light appears and two doors appear in-front of them. As Natsu, Happy, Erza, and Lucy stare in surprise; the doors open up, one after another. Kisuke and the woman proceed to enter.

"The way back to the world of the living is a bit tough. But, if you want to get to there alive…" The woman says, startling all of the wizards at the thought of death by passing through the doors, "then you'll need to do as I say." The woman explains as she, herself, enters the doors. Natsu and Lucy appear perplexed, but Erza walks right between them into the doors.

"Looks like we don't have any other choice. Let's go!" Erza orders, as they all run into the doors after her, going back to the world of the living.


	2. Chapter 2: Shinigami & Wizards Explained

Chapter 2: Soul Reapers & Wizards Explained

The entering of the doors leaves them all stranded in the middle of a strange world. The world is covered in a dense purple liquid that pours down all the walls of the world. It's like they're trapped inside of a single, large hallway that runs on for ages until the end is reached. Normally, Kisuke and the woman would have no problem getting back to the world of the living, because they would bypass this world in the process. However, they are forced to go through this world to get back due to certain circumstances. As of the moment, Kisuke, the woman, Erza, Lucy, and Natsu are currently running for their lives from the liquid on the walls, as the woman explains to them what the world actually is.

"This is the Dangai Precipice World." The woman explains, as she continues to go on about the major details of the world. "This is a world that is in-between the Soul Society and the world of the living, but, it runs on its own separate dimension." The woman explains, surprising them all. While proceeding through the Dangai Precipice World, Kisuke tends to note the strangeness of the liquid amongst the walls. The liquid is actually slowing itself down, returning to a regular solid state instead.

"It seems we have a problem Yoruichi." Kisuke says, while Yoruichi notices that the liquid amongst the walls is as solid as rock, greatly shocking her. "It seems that the restrictive current that prevents souls from using the Dangai Precipice World is returning to a solid state. The cleaner is also not present." Kisuke explains, as Yoruichi continues to guide the Fairy Tail group through the precipice world. "If I guess correctly, the enemy is most likely going to use this world as a way to prepare for an attack, due to the difference in time between the worlds outside." Kisuke explains, which surprises Erza and also confuses her.

"Why would they do that in such a place as this?" Erza asks with a serious tone, as Kisuke begins to explain why.

"The Dangai Precipice world is located in a separate dimension, as explained by Yoruichi. It's an isolated space in which is surrounded by many stack layers of time's current, resulting in a much higher density of time compared to the other worlds." Kisuke explains, as Erza easily catches on to his saying while Lucy and Natsu are still confused.

"So, you're saying that there's a large difference in time between here and the outer worlds?" She tries to affirm, as Kisuke continues to go on.

"To be precise, the density of this world compared to the others is about 2,000 times higher. In that case, the result is that when one hour passes by in the outside world, about 2,000 hours passes through here." Kisuke explains, as Erza, Lucy, Natsu and Happy are completely shocked at the massive difference of time.

"2,000 hours!" Erza shouts in shock, widening her eyes as Kisuke goes on to explain why that's not good for them.

"Incredible, isn't it. The main problem is that the enemy could use the major time difference to prepare an attack at a time in which we aren't prepared for. That's the reason for the cleaner to exist, to keep such souls and hollows from taking advantage of the time difference. However, it seems that the cleaner has also been destroyed." Kisuke explains, as Erza and the rest of the Fairy Tail wizards understand why this isn't in their advantage, while Lucy wonders what hollows are. As they continue to run through the world, they eventually make it to the end of the world, where they can exit and get back to the world of the living. A white bright light appears in-front of all of them, as they all run into the light, escaping the Dangai Precipice world. Ahead of them lies a large training space, as they all come running out of the world through doors that were exactly like the ones they entered. As the doors close behind them, Kisuke and Yoruichi head to the ladder that leads up while everyone else admires the extremely large training space, causing Natsu and happy to freak out while Lucy stares in awe.

"This place is incredible!" Lucy says calmly but amazed, as Kisuke pulls out a small wooden fan and opens it, covering his face with it. "So you like it?" He asks, as Natsu and Happy go on about it, before being interrupted by Kisuke.

"Well, before we get to this place…we need to talk." Kisuke says, prompting Erza to follow Kisuke and Yoruichi upstairs as Lucy and Natsu follow from behind.

Upstairs, a man is sitting amongst a small table while a small girl brings him a small white glass of green tea. The man has piercing, dragon-like, red eyes, and long, black, spiky hair. He has some muscle tone, and he wears black clothes with an iron border and beige pants, along with a serious expression on his face. The girl, Ururu, has black hair in two large pigtails, and round purple eyes. She is also wearing a white shirt with a pink logo on it, and also wears a knee-length pink skirt with white polka dots. The man is sitting there casually, staring at the girl who walks to him slowly with the tea. She sets the tea down in–front of the man, who thanks her for it as she nods and walks away. The man takes a drink, but quickly puts it back down afterwards when noticing a part of the floor opening. He watches as Kisuke comes climbing out of the floor, up into the room as Kisuke tips his hat up and smiles.

"Sorry about the delay. It seems that I've ran into some people along the way." Kisuke explains, as Yoruichi comes climbing out of the hole.

"Who's that?" The man asks, as Kisuke sets his cane down on the floor, getting ready to sit down at the table.

"See for yourself. It's most likely that you know them." Kisuke says in an optimistic tone, as the man has no change of expression and watches as he sees a small tuff of pink hair come up from the hole. Widening his eyes only slightly, the man witnesses Natsu appear out of the hole while noticing the man and freaking out in the process. Natsu stands there shocked, pointing his finger at the man while the man's eyes return to normal.

"So you know this man?" Yoruichi asks, as Natsu continues pointing, annoying the man and Kisuke smiles.

"Gajeel it's you!" Happy shouts surprised, as he flies above Natsu and Erza and Lucy come up out of the hole.

"What are you doing here?!" Natsu says shocked, as Gajeel gets more annoyed.

"What do you think I'm doing here? I'm in the same situation as you are." Gajeel states, as Natsu lowers his finger and anger sparks up in him.

"Oh great, here we go again." Lucy says disappointed, as Erza gets frustrated. "Natsu! This isn't the time to argue! We need to focus on the task at hand now, got it!" Erza orders, as Natsu begins to fear her wrath and calms down. As they all sit around the table, Kisuke pulls out his fan and covers his face with it.

"Now, all we need to do is just wait for Ichigo to arrive." Kisuke explains, as everyone except Yoruichi question who Ichigo is. Suddenly, a door leading outside is opened quickly, as a tall, orange haired man and a smaller, black haired woman enter the shop.

"Kisuke, I need to talk to you about…" The man says, before standing there surprised as Kisuke closes the fan and rests his arm on his leg.

"It appears you've made it in time, Ichigo." Kisuke says, as the young woman comes in and notices everyone, but isn't surprised like Ichigo.

"Who are all of these people?!" Ichigo asks confused, as the woman walks in past Ichigo.

"Calm down Ichigo. They're probably the ones who got caught in the dimensional warp as well." The woman states, as Ichigo walks over with the woman, still confused and wondering about all the Fairy Tail members there. As Ichigo and the woman, Rukia Kuchiki, sit down, Kisuke opens his fan again and puts it up near his face.

"Alright now. I'm going to have to explain everything about the situation now, since we have people who aren't familiar with the ways of the Soul Society." Kisuke says, as everyone gets in on the explanation and Kisuke begins explaining.

After about 2-3 hours of explanations, they get down to business on the real deal behind the chaos. "From what I've observed, all of Soul Society is completely destroyed, and there were no traces of spiritual energy except from Erza & Natsu." Kisuke explains, as Rukia and Ichigo are completely shocked of the news.

"The entire Seireitei has been destroyed?!" Rukia shouts shocked, as Kisuke looks up at her and affirms her.

"I'm afraid so. The damage is irreversible at this point, and the cleaner in the Dangai Precipice world has also been destroyed." He continues to explain, as Rukia and Ichigo are surprised at the happening of the impossible. "From what I've noticed, the restrictive current in the dangai precipice world has stopped on its own. Along with that, Natsu explained to us that he came to the Soul Society through a portal from the world of the living." Kisuke explains, as Rukia points out that such a thing isn't possible. "That's exactly my point. It would take massive amounts of power and spiritual energy to be able to forge the two dimensions together in such a way that traveling to the Soul Society would be instant." He further explains, as he pulls the fan up to his face again and covers his face, changing his tone to a less serious one. "Unfortunately, there's not enough information to conclude anything yet, so we'll just have to settle for what we have now." Kisuke finalizes, as Ichigo is angered at how the entire Soul Society is easily destroyed.

"Then what should we do now?" Ichigo asks frustrated, as Erza easily recognizes his pain, somewhat relating to something that Natsu might do.

"He's just like Natsu, but much more serious." Erza thinks to herself.

"For now, keep an eye on any strange sightings. When we find out enough information, I'll contact you. Until we can get enough information, I'm afraid it's not possible to figure out what they're going to do next." Kisuke explains, watching Rukia get up and noticing the frustration Ichigo is dealing with.

"We better go Ichigo." Rukia says, as Ichigo gets up and follows her out of Urahara's shop. Once they leave, Kisuke puts his fan back down again. "He's just as hot tempered as always." Kisuke remarks, smiling over Ichigo's persistent attitude.

"If that's the case, what do you need us to do?" Erza asks calmly, as Kisuke starts explaining once again, but in a more cheery tone.

"Well, normally I wouldn't be able to have all of you staying here at my shop, but it seems that there's no other option." Kisuke explains cheerfully, as a large man named Tessai comes in and requests that they follow him to their beds. In time, Gajeel and Natsu already have passed out for the night, as Lucy complains to herself about how uncomfortable it's going to be sleeping on the floor. Erza comes out in her pajamas for the night. Getting into bed, she thinks to herself of where everyone from Fairy Tail could be. Pondering over it to herself, she gets herself to calm down and gets ready to sleep. Pulling the blanket over her, she closes her eyes and let's herself drift away into rest, lastly having the destruction of the Soul Society and the missing Fairy Tail members on her mind.


	3. Chapter 3: Introduction To Surprise

Chapter 3: Introduction To Surprise

The next day, nothing new had happened with the current situation. With no possible way of returning to Fairy Tail, they all decided to stay at the Urahara shop, which Kisuke surprisingly offered to them. While at their stay, Lucy helps out Kisuke by going shopping for him, and Natsu just sits around eating all sorts of foods. Meanwhile, Erza and Gajeel leave the shop and go on their own adventures around the entire place. Lucy goes around exploring all of Karakura town, the town in which the Urahara shop is, and also the town in which Ichigo lives as well. She admires the city while looking for the stores she needs to head for. While on the way, she spots a cake shop, and decides to look at all the delicious foods they have in this world.

"This looks interesting." She says to herself, walking inside the shop and admiring all the really delicious cakes that they have on sale. Though, she didn't need to buy anything for Kisuke from the cake shop, she still wanted to get something for herself in the shop. Looking amongst the cakes, she suddenly remembers that Kisuke needs the items immediately, and she can't spend time doing her own shopping until it's done. "I can't be wasting time here!" She says to herself, as she quickly turns around and heads for the door. However, she unexpectedly bumps into another woman, causing her to drop the list and the woman to drop a large bag of stuff as they hit the ground. They both rub their heads in pain and discomfort. After recovering from the fall, Lucy and the woman notice each other. The woman had long, orange hair, and brown eyes. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" Lucy says instantly, while the woman smiles happily and forgives her. The woman is quite surprised, however, when Lucy starts picking up her stuff right afterwards. Putting a bottle of shampoo and some chocolate inside of the bag, she hands the bag to the woman, who takes it kindly.

"Thank you!" The woman says cheerfully in a voice much younger for her age, watching Lucy pick up her own stuff afterwards.

"Oh, don't worry about it! It was nothing." Lucy says cheerfully, as the woman notices a strange, pink tattoo on her hand. Lucy begins to walk out of the store, heading to her next destination for Kisuke while the woman stares back at her in surprise. "Who is that girl?" The woman thinks to herself surprised, deciding to buy herself cake ingredients for later.

Later on in the day, and after getting a small lecture from Yoruichi, Lucy eventually gets everything that Kisuke needs for her, and decides to go shopping herself. Heading back into the town, she goes shopping for clothes that the place has to offer. Suddenly, a feeling of being stalked runs through her veins. Walking down the street, she notices a stuffed lion behind her, starting to feel like she's being watched. Feeling paranoid, she continues walking faster, trying to find the clothes shop. She stops and looks behind herself again, noticing that the stuffed animal is still behind her, but now is closer to her. Lucy starts to freak out over it, remembering the time her dad kept following her when he went broke.

"Is that stuffed animal following me?!" Lucy says, feeling stalked as she turns around and continues to walk towards the clothes store. "Now come on! Stuffed animals can't do that!" Lucy thinks to herself, still feeling paranoid as she continues walking towards the clothes shop.

"Oh! She's so hot! If I can get her to hug me, I'll be in heaven!" The stuffed animal thinks to itself, falling in love with her large breasts. It continues following Lucy furthermore, trying to get Lucy to hug itself. At one point, the stuffed animal jumps and aims for Lucy, flying up to her as he's holding his hands out. It was like they were destined for each other, as he continues holding his arms out gracefully, watching Lucy turn and see the stuffed animal flying towards it, suddenly sending doubt down through itself.

"AAAAGGGHH! It's a talking stuffed animal!" Lucy screams, kicking the stuffed animal out of panic into the wall of another build. As the stuffed animal falls off the wall from the kick, Lucy runs away from it and heads straight for the clothes shop.

"Oh…Someone save me….Rukia…" The stuffed animal says to itself in pain, still in love with Lucy's large breasts. As Lucy continues running, she manages to arrive at the clothes shop, releasing a sigh of relief when she sees that the stuffed animal isn't following her anymore.

"Was that seriously a stuffed animal?" She thinks to herself, remembering how it tried to grab her breasts and she angrily kicked it into the wall. "It's probably just me." She says to herself cheerfully, trying to forget about its strange attraction to her. Noticing all the different styles of clothing all over the shop, she decides to go inside and take a look at all the new styles in store. "It's just like where I live." She says to herself, her tone getting slightly sorrow as she begins to ponder on the whereabouts of her guild-mates. She is suddenly distracted by the sight of a beautiful pink dress, with sparkles that reflect in the light. "That looks pretty." She says to herself calmly, reaching out to grab the dress. When she grabs it, though, she notices another hand grabbing the same dress, and turns to see an orange-haired woman again. "It's you!" Lucy says surprised, as the woman quickly let's go of the dress, realizing that it's Lucy.

"Oh my gosh, it is you!" The woman says cheerfully, as they both start to stare in embarrassment. However, soon after, the orange-haired woman invites Lucy to eat lunch with her, and accepting, Lucy goes with the woman to a park with sandwiches and lots of cakes. They begin talking about stuff instantly, talking about the weird foods that she likes and their outfits, along with their interests before introducing themselves.

"So, what's your name?" Lucy asks kindly, as the woman tells her that her name is Orihime Inoue. Sitting over the edge of the ground with her feet dangling about the river, Lucy introduces herself to Orihime, who says that her name is cute. Orihime then picks up a large piece of chocolate cake and starts eating it, reminding Lucy of Natsu and his bizarre appetite. "Wow, she's just like Natsu when it comes to food." Lucy remarks, watching Orihime take another bite out of the large cake.

"Do you live around here?" Orihime asks, as Lucy begins to go on about where she lives.

"Actually, I live in an entirely different place named Magnolia, but everyone from where I live disappeared and I got sent here." Lucy explains, watching Orihime finish her cake as she picks up a napkin and cleans herself. "Then this man named Kisuke Urahara came and brought me here…" Lucy explains, as Orihime interrupts.

"Is Kisuke letting you stay with him?!" Orihime says surprised, as Lucy is surprised that she knows who he is. "Wait! You know this man?!" Lucy asks surprised, as Orihime goes on to explain their adventures in the Soul Society.

"He and Yoruichi helped us go to the Soul Society and save Rukia! But then this evil man named Aizen came and almost killed Ichigo…" Orihime explains, as Lucy remembers Ichigo and his orange hair, but being bewildered by her archaic way of telling the past.

"Wow, that's…surprising." She thinks to herself surprised, as Orihime explains that Ichigo stopped this "Aizen," and saved the world from total destruction. She also begins to go on about Yoruichi sounding like a man in her cat form, in which Lucy remembers and somewhat freaks out over. "I can't believe that she sounds like a man in her cat form! That's crazy!" Lucy says shocked, as Orihime giggles in response.

Meanwhile, Erza walks around the city exploring, watching people stare at her in wonder. Beginning to get annoyed by them staring at her, she soon enough realizes that it's because she's wearing her armor.

"I didn't think my armor would cause this much commotion." Erza thinks to herself annoyed, beginning to form an irritated expression on her face. She soon enough quickly spots an alleyway in which no one would be able to see her. She quickly runs into it, and after going in for a minute, she comes out in an entirely new outfit. In a black business attire, this outfit makes her blend in with the crowd much more. She begins to feel relief as people quit staring at her and continue on with their own daily lives. "This is much better." Erza says to herself in relief. Not knowing exactly what to do for the time being, she decides to go around the city and looks for new weaponry for her vast arsenal. She looks at this strange red item wrapped around her wrist, thinking about all the trouble that has gone underway. The item is a bracelet that Kisuke gave to them so that they would know if something major happened, good or not. It had a red light on it that would flash if a certain circumstance occurred. She then quickly forgets about it and starts heading for her next destination. However, the thought of a difference in currency crosses her mind instantly. She's now left there without anyway of being able to buy things. "What?! I completely forgot about the currency used in this world!" Erza says to herself shocked, instantly turning back and running for the Urahara shop. Kisuke had given Lucy some of this world's currency in exchange for her jewel earlier, but Erza, on the other hand, was too focused on the current situation to think about such.

Apart from Lucy and Erza, Natsu was still at the shop, eating a LOT and being irritated at being called a "moocher," by Jinta.

Besides that, Gajeel was walking around the city silent as ever, and not to be easily noticed either. He walked through an alleyway in the city, minding his own business when a group of thugs ambush him in the alleyway. He looks at them with a serious expression while they begin to confront him.

"Hey! Who the hell are you and what are you doin' here?" One of the thugs demands, wearing typical street-wear with a thick, curly haircut to match. His followers begin to support him by ranting on the same thing. Gajeel only gets annoyed by their cockiness, watching them anger up by his expression.

"Why don't you just scram? I don't have time to waste with scrap like you." Gajeel suggests in a demeaning way. The thugs start to pick a fight with Gajeel, which turns out to be a big mistake.

"You think you can mess with us?! We'll show you!" The lead thug says with a smirk on his face, as the other thugs start ranting on the same thing once again. However, a grin comes over Gajeel's face.

"So you wanna fight huh?" Gajeel says with a perverse grin, as the lead thug only gets angrier and aims for Gajeel's face.

"Why don't you shut the hell up?!" The lead thug says angrily, attempting to punch Gajeel in the face, who doesn't move a single muscle. The thug hits him in the face, but the results aren't what's to be expected. Gajeel didn't move the slightest bit, still holding the same perverse grin, not even dealing with a slight wince of pain. The thug's expression changes drastically as he pulls his hand back and holds it in pain, seeing it swell a bit.

"What the hell?! It was like I just punched a brick wall!" The thug shouts in pain, holding his hand as he looks up at Gajeel in shock. The other thugs begin to panic as Gajeel's wrath envelopes them. "Who the hell are you?!" The thug questions in shock, as Gajeel raises his head up a bit in a domineering way.

"Is that the best you can do?" Gajeel taunts, as the thugs panic and run away in fear, screaming for mercy as Gajeel's grin fades away. "What a bunch of morons." Gajeel says to himself, turning around and heading back for the Urahara shop due to a lack of entertainment.

It seems that even Lucy is going back to the Urahara shop as well, thinking about the load of fun she had talking with Orihime earlier. She was thinking about hanging out with her again sometime, but before she could've thought of that, she still remembered Fairy Tail, wondering where everyone would've went. The possible answers to that question filled her mind like a disease, and she eventually forgot about it at some point. As they all headed back for the Urahara shop, Erza happened to be the first one back.

"Finally," She says to herself relieved, "When I get this over with, I'll be able to get some custom weaponry for my arsenal." She was walking up to the doors when Natsu and Happy suddenly burst out of the door in a panicked state. "Natsu!" Erza says startled, watching as Natsu ignores her question and runs around the Urahara shop, as if he was looking for someone. This puzzled Erza, as Natsu kept walking around, calling for Kisuke. "What's the matter Natsu?" Erza questions, as Natsu looks at her surprised, quickly running up to her and informing her of the current situation.

"Kisuke just turned into a bunch of sand!" Natsu says shocked, as Happy goes on in shock as Erza widens her eyes only slightly.

"Turn into sand?!" She thought to herself perplexed. She instantly ran into the shop, looking over at one of the doors to see no one else there but Kisuke's clothes in a large pile of sand, as if he was killed or something. "It is a pile of sand!" Erza says to herself shocked, thinking that he could've just died. Beforehand, she could feel his impressively powerful presence when she was there with him earlier, but that presence is no longer existent, and is instead replaced with a large pile of sand in-front of her. "What's going on?!" She says to herself shocked, as she runs out to Natsu. Happy starts to explain what happened but is instantly cut off by Erza. "We need to find everyone as soon as possible!" Erza states, as she starts running out to look for Lucy, but instead runs into Gajeel. Gajeel is as calm and serious as ever, staring at Erza with a slightly perplexed look on his face.

"What's up with you?" Gajeel asks perplexed, as Erza starts to run past him.

"We've got trouble. I'm going to find Lucy!" Erza states, disappearing from the area with seconds as Gajeel watches.

"Trouble?" Gajeel says with a calm demeanor, as Happy flies up to him.

"Kisuke just turned into a pile of sand!" Happy says in a shocked state, with Natsu running up to Gajeel. Natsu was quite shocked himself, but Gajeel begged to differ.

"Turned into sand? That's ridiculous." Gajeel straightforwardly states, as Natsu tries to convince him otherwise.

"I'm telling you! I saw it myself! He's in there right now as a pile of sand!" Natsu says shocked, starting to look less shocked as time passes. Gajeel just simply walks passed him, waiting to see it for himself.

"Yeah whatever." He simply states, walking up to the door and opening it. He walks inside and notices Yoruichi staring at the pile of sand in complete horror. His eyes widen at the truth, but it doesn't cause him to panic. It surprised Gajeel, but destroyed Yoruichi. The thought of Kisuke Urahara being dead before her eyes impaled her. It wasn't so easily possible. Kisuke's immense knowledge would've prepared him for an attack from that of Aizen's level, but this was just too much for Yoruichi.

Meanwhile, Erza catches up with Lucy, watching her carry a bag of her shopping items with her on the way back to the Urahara shop.

"Lucy! We have trouble!" Erza yells out, surprising Lucy. Lucy felt excited to see Erza again, but also was a bit perplexed at her tone.

"Erza…" Lucy says surprised, before witnessing a massive earthquake hit the town. Everything started shaking abruptly, causing Lucy to drop her bags and almost trip off the side of the road into the river. However, Erza catches her and pulls her up, as they both look up ahead to see a bright white light ahead of themselves, past the city buildings.

Back at the Urahara shop, Yoruichi, Gajeel, Natsu and Happy all witness the same earthquake. Yoruichi's eyes widen a bit more, as Gajeel runs out of the shop, slamming open the door. Natsu and Happy stand there, witnessing the large white light as well. The earthquake starts to suddenly stop, as the ground rumbles less and less. Without question, Gajeel jumps and heads for the light.

"I'm going after it." He states clearly, as Natsu and Happy watch Gajeel take off after the light. "Hey, you ain't going without me!" Natsu shouts out, as he and Happy start to follow after Gajeel. Yoruichi only stays behind to continue pondering over Kisuke's shocking death. "I know Kisuke! This simply isn't possible!" Yoruichi says to herself shocked, suddenly widening her eyes at another shocking thought. In an extreme sense of hope, she instantly opens the hatch to the large underground training space, zooming down it at high speed and quickly slamming it shut afterwards.

Meanwhile, Erza and Lucy stare at the white light, watching it still glow brightly while the earthquake comes to a halt.

"What was that?!" Lucy says to herself shocked, as Erza herself wonders the exact same thing.

"I don't know." Erza simply states, as she begins to head for the light herself.

"Lucy! Go to the Urahara shop and make sure nothing bad happens there!" Erza orders, as she continues heading for the white light in-front of her. Lucy nods at her order and heads there, unaware of Kisuke's death. All of Fairy Tail heads for the white light. What is it? Who is there? And what happened to Kisuke?


	4. Chapter 4: Invasion of Karakura Town

Chapter 4: Invasion of Karakura Town

The bright, white light still shined brightly after the earthquake had settled. The city underwent slight damages, but for some reason, the people in the city could not see the light that shined so brightly above the city. Erza, Gajeel, and Natsu were all heading for the bright light, while Lucy ran back to the Urahara shop and Yoruichi entered the large underground training space. As they all headed for the large white light, it started to shine even brighter, covering the city quickly as everyone quickly engulfed in its presence. As Erza was heading there, she started noticing it engulfing the city, hearing loud sounds of destruction as her eyes widen in reaction.

"What is this?!" She shouts to herself shocked, guarding herself from the light as Gajeel and Natsu do the same elsewhere. It got so bright, all you could see was the brightness of the powerful light. Its brightness could easily blind those who opened their eyes to it. Soon enough, it starts to fade away, allowing them to continue pursuing the light. However, the light had disappeared, leaving behind a large pile of destruction, as if Karakura town had been bombed like the Seireitei. "What the hell?!" Erza shouts shocked, widening her eyes further more at how the entire city had been instantly destroyed. All the people living there had been knocked unconscious and had been evaporating into the air. It was as if they were turning into sand like Kisuke did. Surprisingly, Erza, Gajeel, Lucy, and Natsu weren't affect by the light in any sort of way. When Lucy recovered from the light, she saw the entire Urahara shop destroyed, being in the same condition as the rest of the city.

"What?!" Lucy shouts shocked, as she stares at the debris of the Urahara shop. The thoughts of where Yoruichi and the others were raced through her mind like the effects of poisons. "I've got to tell Erza!" Lucy says to herself in an overly shocked state, turning around and running for Erza. While they were on their adventure, Natsu opens his eyes. He turns around, surprised at how the entire city was so easily destroyed. However, something else was worse. Happy was unconscious.

"HAPPY!" Natsu shouts shocked, picking up the blue Exceed and trying to wake it up. "Come on' buddy! You gotta wake up!" He shouts shocked, but to no avail. Hearing footsteps coming closer to him, he looks up to see the entire city destroyed, seeing himself inside of what used to be a small park, seeing the trees white like ash. He sees a white figure walking up to him. It looked like a normal person, expect with nothing but yellow, slanted eyes and pure white skin. Anger sparked within Natsu as he gently sets Happy down on the ground. "Were you the one who did this?!" Natsu says angrily, gripping his fists tightly as he engulfs them within his own flames. The figure continues walking as if it didn't hear anything Natsu had just said, or couldn't. "I asked you a question! Now answer ME!" Natsu says angrily, jumping up at the creature with his fists engulfed in flames, aiming for its face. The creature makes no response, except to instantly get to Natsu as he's flying towards the creature. "Whoa, he's fast!" Natsu says to himself surprised, just before being impaled in the stomach by the creature. The creature holds Natsu up by the stomach as blood begins pouring out from the wound and Natsu starts to cough up slight amounts of blood. Confusion raced through Natsu's mind. A strange black marking suddenly appears where he was impaled, as it gets larger until it covers most of his stomach. With that over, the creature disappears into ashes, Natsu staring at it with pure confusion as he falls over to the ground. A small pool of blood is created underneath him as Natsu's eyes relax after the incident and he falls unconscious. It was like he got in a bloody fight that lasted for less than a minute.

Meanwhile, Gajeel is running around the city, looking for suspects behind the mysterious light. Though, he was surprised, he wasn't completely mind-blown by the incident. He ran around searching until he saw something coming straight for him. Dodging the attack, he jumps and flips around, landing to where he can see the thing that attacked him. It was the one of the same creatures that Natsu had encountered previously, and it was going after Gajeel. It quickly pulled back its arm as Gajeel stared at it perplexed.

"What the hell?" Gajeel asks himself, trying to keep himself out of harm's way by dodging the creature's attacks. Before the creature could react, Gajeel quickly came up and knocked it down with a downwards punch, causing the creature to disappear into ashes like it did with Natsu. "They're also just as stupid as they look." Gajeel says to himself, turning around as he notices two more creatures gaining up on him. A slight grin covers his face as he holds out his fist, provoking the two creatures as they prepare to attack. "Let's get this over with." Gajeel says excited, as his arm turns into a metal color like iron. He then charges for them and starts to begin the fun.

While Gajeel is fighting off the weird creatures, Lucy has trouble finding out where Erza would be.

"Erza!" She shouts continuously, but to no avail. The shock at finding out the entire city had been destroyed instantly was overwhelming. She could only worry about what had happened to the others, mostly Natsu of course. "How could an entire city be destroyed so quickly?!" Lucy thought to herself sadly but shocked. As she continued walking, she saw a large red spot in-front of her. Along with that, she could see a small speckle of pink hair. "Is that Natsu?" Lucy says surprised, holding her hopes high as she starts running for him. "Natsu!" She shouts out, but no response is heard. She continues running for him until she sees him. She gasps loudly in shock and horror as she covers her mouth in shock. All she could see was him lying there, bathing in the pool of the blood while unconscious and with a large black mark on his chest. The horror enveloped Lucy like a destructive virus, entering her system and forever haunting her. "Is he dead?!"Lucy thinks to herself shocked, as she runs up to him in shock. The thought of him being dead scared her enough, but to actually see him dead was another story. "NATSU!" Lucy screams in terror and panic, beginning to tear up as she tries to start healing him with anything that can help. The scream reached far out, covering the entire city as both Gajeel and Erza heard the scream.

"Dammit! What happened to him?" Gajeel says angrily, his hands returning to normal after destroying the creatures that were after him. With that done, Gajeel decides to track Natsu down by using his scent and the direction of Lucy's scream.

Erza, on the other hand, was shocked as well, and decided to head his direction instantly.

"What happened to Natsu?!" Erza says to herself shocked, running for their direction. However, the sound of another voice stopped her and caused her to turn around.

"Erza?! Is that you?!" The voice shouts, sounding like a young girl's voice. Erza turned around to see a young girl with very long blue hair and brown eyes standing in-front of her.

"Wendy!" Erza shouts of relief, as they both start running for each other. However, they get intercepted by a large explosion happening in-between them. It blasts them both back, knocking them down on the rubble painfully and furthermore sliding them back a few feet. As they recover from the blast, they look in-front of themselves to see a large white creature coming out of the ground. Similar to the ones Natsu and Gajeel encountered, this one was much bigger and much buffer. It also had black hands and green eyes instead of yellow ones. The daunting appearance of the creature surprised them both greatly. "What the hell is that?!" Erza shouts shocked, staring at the large creature, who ignores Erza entirely. The creature faces Wendy and starts going after her. In fear of Wendy being killed, Erza gets up and attacks the creature with great force, attempting to slice it with her sword. "Wendy! Get out of here!" Erza shouts shocked, thinking that the creature might have done something to Natsu. As Erza is trying to slice it, her sword only slides on the surface of its skin, and she ends up slicing nothing in the process. "What?!" Erza shouts shocked, watching in shock as the creature slams Erza down to the ground painfully.

"Erza! NO!" Wendy shouts shocked, as she witnesses Erza being slammed down. The creature quickly turns to Wendy in hopes of taking her out.

"All dragon slayers will be eliminated." The creature says with a raspy, quiet voice that sounds like a robot. Wendy, not knowing exactly what to do, decides to take out the creature herself. She takes in a large amount of air and tries to attack it using Sky Dragon Slayer Magic. It looked like she was sucking in a bunch of air and then blowing it out with extreme force.

"Sky Dragon ROAR!" She shouts, shooting out a giant vortex of air at the giant creature, blowing it back a bit. However, the attack didn't do a bunch of damage, and the creature was still standing, ready to take Wendy out. There were only slight blemishes on the creature after the attack. "What? How did that not work?!" Wendy says to herself surprised, taking slight steps back as the creature gets ready to eliminate her. Erza, on the other hand, slowly gets up, seeing Wendy back away as she prepares to attack again. Suddenly, Erza spots a large black spot on its back.

"Is that spot on its back its weakness?" Erza thinks to herself, trying to get up and attack the spot on its back. Wendy prepares to attack again, thinking of another way to attack. However, she trips on a rock behind her and falls over, getting her shirt stuck under a pile of rocks as they topple onto her shirt in the process.

"Oh no!" Wendy shouts to herself worried, trying to remove the shirt from the rock desperately. Erza gets up and starts heading for the spot on its back, magically gaining two swords in her hands using her requip magic. Wendy manages to remove her shirt from the rocks, slightly ripping it in the process. Erza jumps up in the air, trying to thrust her swords into the creatures back.

"I've got you now!" Erza says confidently, preparing to slice the spot on its back. However, it suddenly vanishes without a trace. "What?!" Erza says confused, "Where did it go?!" She looks all around for it, but can't seem to find it. Wendy starts looking for it too, but can't seem to find it either. Suddenly, Wendy feels a strange presence behind her, like she was being haunted.

"You will be eliminated." The creature says to Wendy, who with widened eyes, stares back at it with horror. She quickly turns around to see it shocked, as it's about to fire a powerful blast of purple energy directly at her.

"WENDY!" Erza screams horrified. The energy blast is fired, though, and it creates a large path of destruction in its wake. Erza is blown feet away by the blast, trying to protect herself while in complete fear of Wendy's fate. The blast soon fades away, and what's left is nothing but a large, long crater of debris from the blast. Erza, in panic, looks around for where Wendy might be, desperately hoping that she isn't dead. "Wendy!" Erza shouts, in question of where she might be, soon coming to realize that she didn't make it out of the blast. "No…" Erza says regretfully, starting to become infuriated by sadness as she prepares to demolish the creature. However, the creature surprises Erza with its next response.

"Must eliminate Sky Dragon Slayer." The creature says, surprising Erza greatly.

"What?! Is she still alive?!" Erza asks both herself and the creature. She starts looking everywhere she can for where Wendy might possibly be, running off in a certain direction to look for her. She hears the creature disappear again, and turns around to look to where it might have possibly gone to.

It turns out that Wendy wasn't harmed at all, instead being shielded by a large figure. Wendy, realizing that the blast was fired, opens her eyes to be surprised that she isn't dead. She slowly looks around to see that an arm, covered in a black sleeve, is shielding her. She turns to her left to look up to a tall, blonde male with electric blue eyes staring at the creature before them. Wendy felt both afraid of the male's presence, but also safe within his grasp. She couldn't make up her mind, whether to trust the male or not. She looked up at the male with confusion and wonder.

"Who are you?!" She asked somewhat surprised, looking up at the male, who didn't move a single muscle to look back at her.

"We don't have time for that right now, but I will tell you, I'm not your enemy." The male says with a calm, serious tone. He was primarily focused on the creature that was after Wendy. Wendy stared at the creature, ready to attack it again, but before she could do anything, the male halted her. "You don't need to get involved again. I can do this." The male straightforwardly states with a slight smirk on his face, walking right out in-front of her. The male was calm, staring at the creature with a serious expression, and also noticing Erza spot him. Erza stops in her tracks upon witnessing the male's presence. An extreme feeling of relief flows through her when she sees that Wendy is safe. Though Wendy was safe, she couldn't help but worry about who the male might actually be.

"Who is that man?!" She thinks to herself confused, as she continues to witness the male preparing to stop the creature. The male reaches behind him and begins pulling out something, as if he was unsheathing a sword with a single hand. Pulling out a slightly blue chokuto with a dark blue handle, the male holds it out in-front of him and aims for the large black spot on the creature's back. Without saying a single word, the male slashes the sword across what he sees to be the surface of the black spot. Seconds later, a large wound appears on the creature's back where the spot was, and seconds later, the creature is immersed in a large bright light as its dying. As the male sheaths the sword, the creature is seen as a large orb of light. The light then explodes to pieces as bits and fragments of the creature are left behind, immersed in bright, white light. The man's power was incredible. Who was he? Was he a friend or an enemy? These questions were running through Erza's mind like a poison. They had yet to find out.


	5. Chapter 5: Resemblance Between Multiple

Chapter 5: Resemblance Between Multiple

Erza and Wendy both stood there in shock, being amazed while witnessing the male's great potential. While being shocked, Erza couldn't help but notice the blue streaks of electricity coming from the bottom of the long coat that the male was wearing. It was a long-sleeved coat that was extremely thin and long, going all the way down to the ends of his ankles. Underneath the coat, you could see a gray shirt with gray cargo pants, and pure black sneakers. Erza starts running up to the male, in an urge to figure out who he was. The male starts to turn around and walk to Wendy, but is stopped by a demanding Erza.

"Who are you?! I…" Erza asks demandingly, but is interrupted by the male.

"I'm not your enemy," The male explains with a very calm demeanor. "I came here to help you." The male simply states, further making Erza confused.

"How do I know that you can be trusted?!" Erza asks demandingly, as she sees Wendy running up to them.

"Erza! He saved me from the blast!" Wendy says convincingly, who is still in good condition. Sudden surprise hits Erza again.

"He saved you?!" Erza says surprised, looking back up at the male. He still had the same, calm expression on his face.

"I witnessed the entire city being obliterated, and I saw you fighting off these ugly creatures as well, so I came to help." The male says calmly. Erza soon enough started to trust the male, as he began to explain what's been happening. "It seems that these creatures are after Dragon Slayers." The male explains, as Erza helps out Wendy and makes sure that she is ok. Sudden surprise hit Erza once again.

"He knows about Dragon Slayers?! Is he some kind of wizard?!" Erza thinks to herself surprised. However, she doesn't let that distract her from the conversation. "Do you know why?" Erza asks calmly, being much more at ease with the male.

"It's possible that their rare form of magic and prowess is a potential threat to them, and it's also possible that they want to gain their power. Other than that, I'm not completely sure." The male explains, as Erza remembers Lucy screaming out Natsu's name. Fear drove through her once again.

"Natsu!" Erza shouts worried, running out in his direction as Wendy and the male watch her go after him. The male begins walking in her direction.

"Are you going to help us?" Wendy asks out of hope and wonder, as the male stops in his tracks for a moment.

"I've helped you out already, so there isn't really any better option." The male explains calmly. Wendy felt more comfortable around him, and wanted to thank him for saving her.

"Thanks for saving me!" Wendy says happily. The male stands there for a few, before continuing in Erza's direction.

"It's nothing." The male simply puts it, continuing down Erza's direction as Wendy follows from behind.

Meanwhile, Lucy was mourning over Natsu, thinking that he was dead as tears started to pour.

"What happened?!" She asks herself sadly, trying to keep herself clean of tears. As she continues crying, someone could be heard running over to Natsu. Hearing the footsteps coming closer, Lucy looks up to see that it was Gajeel, staring at Natsu with shock, who was lying on the ground like a doll.

"What the hell happened?!" Gajeel asks with a serious tone, as Lucy tries to look up at him to explain. Holding back her tears was too much for her though.

"I just found him like this." She simply puts it, trying to keep herself from crying, which doesn't work. The tears continue to pour down from her face as she can't help but think that he's dead. Gajeel examines Natsu by turning him over, noticing that he isn't dead.

"Well, he's not dead yet." Gajeel says, sparking a sign of happiness and relief inside of Lucy instantly.

"Really?!" Lucy says surprised, wanting to see it for herself. However, this is quickly interrupted when Gajeel turns Natsu over and sees the large black mark on his stomach. The mark was now very large and took on the shape of a large swirl with flames sticking off the sides. Lucy gasps with shock and Gajeel's eyes widen at what's to be seen.

"What the hell?!" Gajeel says shocked, as they both see that the mark is moving slightly on Natsu's stomach.

"What is that?!" Lucy says shocked, her widening her eyes as well. They both hear footsteps coming towards them, which reveals to be Erza.

"What happened to Natsu?" She asks seriously, watching with surprise as Gajeel angrily punches the ground, grabbing a piece of iron from the ground afterwards. Sudden confliction arises in Erza, both being shocked at Gajeel's response, but also feeling a strange presence behind her. It was neither the male nor Wendy's presence at all. As the ground starts to shake, she remembers what it was. "It's that monster again!" She shouts angrily, as another one of those giant creatures pops out of the ground. This time, it was eying Natsu with what seemed to be a sinister look, but then instantly turned its focus on Gajeel. "The Fire Dragon Slayer has been eliminated. Now, I will commence the elimination of the Iron Dragon Slayer." Says the creature, as an angry expression covers Gajeel's face. Gajeel gets up after eating the piece of iron he just got, and prepares to fight. However, they all suddenly feel a large powerful force coming their way. It wasn't the male's presence, though, despite its similarity.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Someone yells, as a large blue wave of spiritual energy is seen flying through the creature. It cuts the creature straight in half, instantly killing it. Everyone watches in surprise as the creature dies in the same way as before, turning into bright, white light and exploding to bits. As the creature explodes, two figures come running towards them, which turn out to be Ichigo and Rukia.

"Is everyone all right?!" Rukia asks, running up and noticing Natsu lying on the ground with that mark on his stomach. It slightly surprised her. It was similar to that of a hollow mark, but it wasn't such. It was different in a lot of ways, mainly its appearance. Rukia pondered at the thought of what it could possibly be. Ichigo, however, was distracted by something else. He felt sudden awkwardness when seeing Gajeel eat pieces of iron from the ground.

"What the?!" Ichigo says out of surprise, as Gajeel turns to stare at him in wonder. "You're eating Iron! That's so weird!" Ichigo says out of surprise, wondering how it was possible. Gajeel sends him a meaningful glare in response.

"You've got a problem with that?" Gajeel asks in a demeaning way, slightly angering Ichigo.

"Hey, watch it." Ichigo says somewhat coldly. The response he gets from Gajeel is a grin, to which catches Ichigo by surprise. Images and memories of an older man with the same grin run through his head. The man's thirst for battle, the way he loved it and his appearance. He could see it all in Gajeel.

"No way…" Ichigo says to himself surprised, with a much more calm expression on his face.

"Ichigo!" Rukia snaps, as Ichigo's attention is redirected right back at Rukia.

"You need to focus! We have bigger issues to deal with." Rukia states, as Ichigo turns his focus to Natsu. The mark moving on Natsu's stomach also surprises Ichigo as they both walk up to examine it.

"What the hell is that?" Ichigo asks surprised, kneeling down to take a closer look at Natsu. He was still visibly breathing, but he was like a fish not in the water, without flapping. His eyes started to get slightly bloodshot and his pupils were shrinking. It was starting to scare Lucy, as she couldn't bear looking at Natsu in this kind of pain. Erza starts to wonder what would've been able to do that so easily.

"Natsu was defeated this easily?!" Erza thinks to herself shocked. It was a bit overwhelming to see him down on the ground like that. It wasn't like the Natsu she knew.

"To think that Natsu….No….It just isn't right! How could he be so easily defeated?!" Erza thinks to herself shocked. She knew Natsu had a blazing fighting spirit, and he wouldn't have gone down so easily. It was perplexing not only for her, but also for Lucy and Gajeel. Even Gajeel knew that it was a bit surprising to see him go down so easily. "He must've gotten into a serious mess." Gajeel thinks to himself calmly, continuing to eat the iron on the ground. As they ponder over Natsu's sudden defeat, Natsu suddenly coughs up a bit of blood. It surprised Lucy and Erza.

"Natsu?!" Both Lucy and Erza shout, as they see him relax again. He coughs again, and continues coughing until more blood comes out. When he stops, he turns himself over slowly to see everyone. Lucy's tears fade away and she stares at Natsu with happiness inside but a worried face on the outside.

"What happened…to..me?" Natsu says weakly, trying to hold his own. Footsteps can be heard coming towards them.

"He was impaled by one of the creatures." A voice says, as everyone turns to where they heard the voice.

"What was that?" Ichigo says out of wonder. While everyone else wondered who it was, Erza already knew, as a slight hint of hope came through her. On the other hand, Gajeel was surprised. He felt something very familiar about the person, but he couldn't catch on to what it actually was.

"What's with that voice?" He asks himself perplexed. He turns up to see the figure coming towards them, the feeling of déjà vu getting more intense the closer the figure was. The figure eventually reveals itself to be the male, as Erza had predicted correctly. Everyone was surprised by the male's appearance, especially Gajeel, which was surprising.

"Who is that?" Lucy asks out of wonder. Gajeel says, "What?!" out of surprise, to which everyone turns to him about. However, he quickly hides it with his typical, serious expression that he always has on. It worked as everyone was turned off by it, and they focused back on the male. The male kept walking towards Natsu, as behind him appeared Wendy. Both Lucy and Gajeel felt slight relief at knowing Wendy was alright.

"Hey guys! I'm alright!" Wendy says cheerfully, running up to them. Lucy, though relieved, doesn't change her expression much. Wendy then sees Natsu impaled in the stomach, along with the weird markings. She releases a gasp as she runs over to try to heal Natsu. Ichigo lets out a sudden stutter of shock.

"What?! A little girl?!" Ichigo says surpised, as Rukia gets upset with his disrespect.

"Ichigo! That's disrespectful!" Rukia says displeased as Ichigo rolls his eyes and looks away.

"Yeah, whatever." He straightforwardly states, watching Wendy use her healing magic to heal Natsu. Her extensive training in healing magic has helped her use it for very long periods of time without passing out so easily. The wound starts to close on its own while she uses her healing magic. The male was quite impressed with her healing skills for her age.

"She's quite impressive. To see healing magic work that fast for her age." The male says intrigued. Erza smirks in response.

"That's what you can expect from her. She's a Sky Dragon Slayer." Erza explains, as the male continues to watch and Natsu begins regaining his strength. "That explains why she was targeted." The male thinks to himself, watching her healing magic become more effective with more time. Natsu gains enough strength to sit up properly, despite Wendy's warnings.

"That feels much better. Thanks Wendy!" Natsu says happily, as Wendy tries to keep him still.

"But I'm not done yet." She says, trying to heal him properly while he's sitting up. Lucy begins to smile again as Natsu continues to regain his strength.

"I'm glad he's alright again." Lucy thinks to herself happily, continuing to watch Wendy heal Natsu. Erza smiles as well, but looks back at the male for questions and answers.

"By the way, what _is_ your name?" Erza asks the male. The male turns his head slightly to Gajeel before answering. He responds back with a non-expressive tone.

"Kyousuke." The male says, pulling his hand through his hair in boredom. Gajeel suddenly remembers that name, but tries to not think of it for the time being. He began to feel strange just thinking about how familiar he was. Kyousuke turns to see Gajeel staring at Natsu, sitting down with one knee up and his elbow resting on it. Gajeel turns to see Kyousuke, them both locking eyes for a few seconds. As a sudden feeling of surprise arises in them, they instantly look away from each other and at Wendy. As they had their moment, Rukia, feeling things are going good here, decides on another course of action for her and Ichigo to take.

"Alright." She says calmly, getting up as Ichigo watches her. "You've got everything under control here. Ichigo and I will head to the Soul Society to figure out more information on what's going on." Rukia explains, as Ichigo gets up and turns to her. She pulls out a sword, which is actually her zanpakuto, and turns like a key, like Kisuke did earlier. Sheathing her sword, the same doors Natsu and everyone else came through earlier appear, and Rukia and Ichigo run into the doors. Once they enter, they disappear from Karakura town along with the doors, and then appear in the Dangai precipice world again. This is because Ichigo doesn't have a hell butterfly, and the entire soul society was destroyed anyways, making travel to the soul society much more difficult. Rukia seems to be complete surprised that the cleaner isn't present and the restrictive cleaner has stopped on its own. However, Ichigo still had something else on his mind. Rukia and Ichigo start running through the Dangai precipice world in order to get to the soul society. As they're running, Rukia notices Ichigo thinking about something that keeps going at him. "What is it Ichigo?" Rukia asks him, seeing him look down and think about something else than the situation.

"That guy that was eating the iron. He looked a lot like Kenpachi." Ichigo explains, as Rukia instantly realizes their similarities in appearance. She then thinks of Natsu and looks back at Ichigo. "That Natsu reminds me of you." Rukia says, wearing a smirk on her face. Ichigo gets instantly irritated by this as a response. "What?! No way! You can't be serious!" Ichigo says annoyed, as Rukia's smirk gets larger. However, now Ichigo felt a bit regretful at saying that about Gajeel. He now felt some sort of difference between the two that distinguished them from each other. As they deal with their own emotional thoughts, they continue on to the Soul Society, almost reaching the end of the Dangai precipice world.

Meanwhile, Wendy is still healing Natsu, and he has enough strength to get back up on his feet again. Even though he was healed, he still had injuries and that strange marking on his stomach. It was moving still, but it didn't seem to affect Natsu in any sort of way.

"What the heck is this?" Natsu says out of confusion. No one in the group seemed to know what it actually was or what it actually did.

"If anything, it could have something to do with your magic power." Kyousuke explains, seeing the flame-like border on the marking. "I'd be careful when you use your magic." Kyousuke explains, as Natsu looks at his hands for a minute.

"My magic power?" Natsu thinks to himself perplexed. Though he doesn't know why that would be, he decides to take his advice anyway. However, he soon quickly forgets about it as he remembers that Happy was unconscious.

"HAPPY!" Natsu shouts shocked, running over to where he saw him. Natsu picks him up while he's still unconscious, visibly enraged at what they did to him. He continued to grit his teeth in agonizing anger, swearing vengeance. "They're gonna pay for this!" Natsu says darkly, enraged while still holding Happy gently. Everyone was staring at him, some sadly and others angrily. Lucy was worried the most about Natsu, gripping her fingers even tighter over worrying. Suddenly, Natsu turns around and angrily punches the air, as if he was hitting something and obliterating it.

"Get AWAY!" He angrily yells, which surprises everyone greatly. "What's he doing?!" Erza shouts shocked, watching as Natsu keeps punching the air.

"What are you doing Natsu?!" Lucy thinks to herself, witnessing Natsu jump up and attempt to punch something.

"I've got you now!" He angrily shouts, punching the air once again. This time, a loud slam like he was hitting a piece of metal was heard. Everyone's eyes widen in complete surprise. However, there was much more to it than that. Kyousuke, Gajeel, and Wendy suddenly felt an ugly presence near them. To Wendy, it felt as if a dark blanket was wrapping around her and squeezing her. She was overwhelmed by the strange dark presence.

"What is this?!" She thinks to herself shocked, shaking her head to get rid of the presence. Though the presence was still there, she could see what was happening clearly again.

"This is bad!" Wendy shouts panicked. Kyousuke instantly takes action, pulling out a green knock-out potion and throwing it at Natsu with extreme force. Natsu reacts by punching the bottle and shattering it, releasing the potion in response. The potion engulfs Natsu as he eventually falls unconscious to its effects. Kyousuke instantly runs over to Natsu and carries him on his shoulder.

"A knock out potion?!" Lucy says surprised, as Kyousuke starts walking back towards them.

"I don't have any time to explain right now. First of all we need to get out of here." Kyousuke explains, running past all of them and heading for a mountain pass clear out of the city. As he heads out of the city, Erza turns back to look at the city, thinking to herself about Natsu.

"Has Natsu gone insane?!" She thinks to herself shocked. The impeding though of Natsu losing his sanity was kind of overwhelming for her. It was absolutely abnormal. She turns back around to see Gajeel and Wendy already following Kyousuke up to the mountain pass.

"Maybe I should trust him." Erza thinks to herself, watching Lucy get herself up and brush her clothes off. "Let's go." Erza orders, walking up in Kyousuke's direction as Lucy follows behind. The biggest question on Erza's mind, though, was what that mark on Natsu's stomach was actually doing to him.


	6. Chapter 6: Gajeel and Erza

Chapter 6: Gajeel and Erza

The city was left behind in shambles. More importantly, everyone that was affected by the white light was evaporating into sand. It was very strange, yet it was stranger as to why it didn't affect some. However, the biggest questions on their minds where about how Natsu's condition was and where their guild-mates could be, along with what happened to Kisuke and how such incredible destruction has been happening within seconds. With the situation at hand, Natsu could be in serious danger. Kyousuke suggested that they get far enough so that the city is out of view, and so they did. They traveled across mountains and valleys for hours; at least until Karakura town could no longer be seen.

Eventually, they did stop at a point, and Kyousuke decided that they all should settle there, as Erza had agreed as well. It was a forest that was covered by large trees, so only small rays of sunlight could get through. Kyousuke must've made a lucky guess, most likely because there was a small cabin there for them to use. It had two queen-sized beds on the inside, and surprisingly, there was a cabinet full of medical equipment for them to use. Wendy and Lucy had gotten Natsu in one of the beds so he could rest. She then healed him even more, as much as she could. Afterwards, she started looking at the strange marking on his stomach. It didn't stop her healing magic from working, nor did it give off any strange effects. It was like it was a live tattoo at the moment.

Currently, the only ones inside of the house were Wendy and Natsu. Kyousuke ran off to somewhere unknown, Lucy ran out gardening for food and Erza went for a walk around the place to clear her mind. She still wore her traditional armor as she always does. While she was still worried about Natsu, she was now much more elated and stress-free. Instead of over-stressing about the situation, she walked around the forest, admiring the ambience and atmosphere that the forest gave off. It was very relaxing and peaceful to her, and she enjoyed it a lot.

"_This is_ quite a beautiful world." Erza says to herself calmly, walking around the forest in a calm manor. She was walking by calmly when she spotted something that caught her eye. She turned to her left and looked across to see Gajeel resting up against a tree. He had a serious expression on his face as always, staring off into space while holding his arms crossed. He seemed perfectly fine, but Erza wasn't one to miss the important details. She remembered his reaction upon seeing Kyousuke earlier. It was very intriguing to her. "I wonder if Gajeel has anything to do with this male." Erza thinks to herself puzzled. Suddenly, a smirk comes clean across her face, as she starts walking up to Gajeel. Normally, she couldn't trust him because of his history with Phantom Lord, but things have changed since then. He is way more trustworthy now and he is also one of the only people that Erza could possibly have a clean chat with, besides Lucy. She felt some sort of initiative to bond, which made her feel uneasy on the inside. "Become good friends with Gajeel?" Erza thought to herself while walking up to him. It was a bit perplexing for herself, so she immediately dismissed the thought. "Now seriously, it's just a chat." She tells herself while also smirking to herself. She then gets her serious act together and gets to Gajeel. He didn't seem to notice her until she got his attention by asking a question. "So…" Erza says out loud, resting up against a tree with her eyes closed, "I wonder where our guild-mates are." She randomly brought up the sentence, as she ran into a blank in her head. Gajeel turned and looked at her with a somewhat surprised, but perplexed look. The question was literally so stupid that Gajeel didn't care to respond. It was exactly what they've been worrying about all of this time. Erza felt a bit awkward about it, and she decided to ask an entirely different question. "Never mind that." She says, crossing her arms lightly and still having her eyes closed, "I'm more concerned with the mark on Natsu." Erza says seriously, remembering the strange things Natsu's been doing and the strange shape that the marking took on. Gajeel turned his head and looked off into the forest once again, also remembering the mark.

"Whatever the hell it is, I'd get rid of it soon." He straightforwardly states. While he was a bit perplexed with what happened to Natsu, he had bigger problems on his mind. With his serious expression all the time, though, it was kind of difficult to tell. It was like a shield blocking people from his inner emotions. Erza decided to bring up the main question at hand.

"That male…" Erza brings up, causing Gajeel to turn his eyes towards her, "Kyousuke isn't it?" "You looked surprised when you saw him." She explains. Gajeel kept listening to her as she went on, turning his head to look at her properly. "Do you know him?" She asks, opening her eyes and turning to him, face to face. He felt surprised that Erza would notice something like that so easily. He looked away from her and back at the forest ahead of him.

"He just looks familiar, that's all." Gajeel says calmly, not wanting to continue on the subject with Erza. Despite that, Erza continued on talking about him.

"I'll admit that I was a bit surprised when I saw him unsheathe that sword." Erza explains, turning around and resting her head on the side of the same tree that Gajeel was resting on. "The blade itself was tinted blue, and it was a small blade, more like that of a chokuto" Erza further explains. Gajeel was starting to catch on, but nothing about who Kyousuke really was came to him, it was all a mess. Erza continued to explain her thoughts of him. "If I had to guess, he—"

"Controls electricity." Gajeel states correctly, shocking Erza as she was about to say the exact same thing.

"How did you know that?!" Erza asks out of surprise. Gajeel, however, didn't surprise _himself_ with his correct assumption.

"It was just a guess." Gajeel tells her. However, that was not true. It came to him through some sort of sudden insight. He wasn't even paying attention to anything that Kyousuke was wearing, as he was more concerned with him just being there. Erza didn't tell him anything about his clothing anyways, and with Erza realizing this, she suddenly felt some sort of connection between Gajeel and Kyousuke. She didn't want to pry into Gajeel's feelings, however, so she kept her questions and herself at bay. She knew he would hate it and she wasn't one to be like that anyways. With really nothing else to talk about, she starts to walk off back towards the house to check on Natsu's condition.

"Well then, that'll be it for now." Erza says, starting to walk back to the cabin as Gajeel eyes her movements. He didn't hate her, nor did he have any feelings for her. He just thought it was strange for her to come up and talk to him. He continued to watch her as she headed back. While she was walking, however, a black figure jumps in-front of her, startling her a bit. However, it was only Kyousuke. Both Gajeel and Erza were a bit surprised to see him pop up at this time.

"It's you." Erza says surprised with a sigh of relief. Gajeel just stared at him with the same expression on his face.

"There's something I want you two to come check out with me." Kyousuke states, as Erza and Gajeel were caught by interest.

"What is it?!" Erza asks curiously, as Kyousuke stretches his neck muscles and Gajeel starts walking towards them.

"Well, it would be better for you to check it out for yourselves." Kyousuke puts it. He then turns around and starts heading for the area, as they start to follow him. "Though, it is a bit long from here." Kyousuke explains, the latter two not being concerned with it.

"It doesn't matter; just show us where it is." Gajeel says in his typical tone of voice. Kyousuke smirks to himself in response. "Alright then, it's at that large waterfall, outside of the forest and onto that canyon side over there." Kyousuke explains, pointing to a large waterfall with a beige canyon surrounding it. Erza was a bit surprised at its location.

"Well, that is a bit far." Erza notes, not complaining however as Gajeel gets straight to business.

"Yeah yeah, let's just get there." Gajeel says, ready for action. Kyousuke continues to head there, finding their conversation somewhat interesting.

Eventually, they get there, and they spot the waterfall Kyousuke was talking about. However, it wasn't like a normal waterfall. The water was flowing down like normal, but it was flowing down the sides of a large circle with mystical, ancient drawings on it. The circle, however, was on the wall of the canyon, and normally, the water would fall down and cover its appearance. In this case, it was like the circle was in the way of the water itself. It was the most peculiar thing. Erza and Gajeel were surprised by the weirdness of this event, showing expressions of surprise and shock at this sort of strange _magic_.

"This is a very strange waterfall." Erza notes, as Gajeel walks up to the circle. Kyousuke stood by and watched as Gajeel examined all the strange art on the circle. There was a snake that slithered amongst its border with a double-headed voulge in the center. It was rather perplexing, as none of them could make anything up of it.

"What the hell kind of art is this?" Gajeel says annoyed, looking at the art with a displeased look while Erza ponders about it.

"It could be some kind of riddle." Erza explains, as Gajeel, annoyed, lies back against the circle. Kyousuke suddenly hears a bunch of rocks falling after Gajeel lied against the wall. He looked at his feet to see the rocks on the ground, as neither Gajeel nor Erza seemed to notice.

"Did the wall just break?" Kyousuke asks them both, as Erza stops pondering and Gajeel looks at Kyousuke curiously.

"The wall?" Erza says confused, looking at the wall as Gajeel gets up and turns around to look. He sees that his lying on the wall has revealed 3 switches above the double-headed voulge, smirking in response. They all look at the three switches, in which Gajeel pushes in the center switch. As a response, nothing happens. They all stand there, looking at the switches with curiosity. Suddenly, Erza comes up with an idea.

"What if we were to push all three switches?" Erza says out of curiosity. Kyousuke and Erza then walk up to the switches. They put their hands on the switches, ready to push them in. Suddenly, a loud sound like a missile is heard, surprising them all. It continues to get louder within seconds, as they all get a sudden feeling of danger.

"What the _hell_ is that?" Kyousuke says confused, only to suddenly get blasted back against the wall by an unknown force, along with Gajeel and Erza. They all slam into their switches painfully; falling to the ground and witnessing the circle spin around like a door until the art was upside down.

"What was that?!" Erza shouts in shock, as they all get up and look around for anything that might've caused the blast.

"It felt like some sort of pressurized explosion." Kyousuke explains, as Gajeel turns around, watching the door split into two and reveal an opening. It reveals a cave on the inside, and full of curiosity, they all enter the cave. Large amounts of light were entering the small cave, so luckily, they could all see without the need of a light source.

"A strange waterfall, a pressurized blast, and now a cave?" Erza says perplexed at the series of events. They all look around the cave, as Gajeel spots writing amongst the walls. He begins to read it to himself as Erza notices and walks up to him while he's reading it. "What is it?" Erza asks, as Gajeel then reads the writing out-loud.

"The S will release to the E and realize the truth behind the I." Gajeel reads out-loud, getting a perplexed and peculiar look on his face after reading it. Kyousuke spots more writing on another wall, and begins to read it out-loud.

"The E and the I will realize the past and once again make the bond that will never be broken." Kyousuke reads out-loud, as Gajeel and Erza listened. Kyousuke suddenly gains the same expression Gajeel has. "What the hell? Uh…I don't…get any of this." Kyousuke says confused, Erza walking up to the wall opposite to that of Kyousuke.

"Tell me about it." Gajeel says also perplexed. Erza finds more writing on the other wall and begins to read it out-loud as well, catching the latter two's attentions.

"The E, the I, and the S, will obliterate the M that aims to destroy the existence of Bs." Erza reads out-loud. Before they could start thinking about it, a purple orb appears in the middle of the room. Everyone turned around to realize that it was the same portals that they've been seeing earlier, but this time, you couldn't see where it would take you.

"It's one of the portals again!" Erza says in shock, backing away from it. Kyousuke and Gajeel head for the cave opening, only for it to close on them.

"NO!" Kyousuke shouts angrily, as Gajeel and him turn around and watch it begin to expand.

"What's happening?!" Erza says in shock, being engulfed in it first and disappearing without a trace.

"Dammit!" Gajeel says angrily, as both he and Kyousuke are engulfed as well. They all disappear from the cave without a trace, as the portal disappears soon after.

In the meantime, Ichigo and Rukia made it to the Soul Society. They both exit the Dangai Precipice world through the Senkaimon. However, they soon gasp in surprise when they see a short, green-haired girl on the floor in-front of them. They both knew who she was, but were shocked to see her there in the first place.

"Is that…" Rukia says in surprise, as Ichigo is also greatly surprised.

"It can't be." Ichigo says in shock, looking at the girl who he had thought died a while back in time.


	7. Chapter 7: It's Not Getting Better

Chapter 7: It's Not Getting Better

Ichigo and Rukia stare on in surprise at the girl who had died a while back in time. It was both a shock and relief to them both. Ichigo started running up to her, to which Rukia followed him.

"It is her!" Rukia says shocked, as they both start catching up to her. The girl turns to realize that it's Ichigo and Rukia, and a smile comes across her face. She starts to get up and run after them, reaching out for Ichigo. However, she suddenly is pulled backwards into a purple portal, and she disappears.

"Nozomi!" Ichigo shouts in shock, watching her expression become shocked as she is pulled into the portal. After she disappears, both Rukia and Ichigo stop in their tracks, being completely surprised and wondering how she would've just disappeared. "Where did she go?!" Ichigo shouts in a worried state. Rukia, also surprised, begins to wonder about more than just her. "If she's here, then is—"

"Yes, Kageroza is here." An older voice says, startling both Ichigo and Rukia.

"Who was that?!" Ichigo says startled, as Rukia looks up in the air. She sees a yellow portal with a green atmosphere on the inside. In-front of it stood a man with one half of his hair green, and the other half yellow. He looked a bit older, and he had a provocative smirk on his face.

"There he is!" Rukia announces, as Ichigo looks up, suddenly getting angered by his appearance.

"It's you!" Ichigo shouts angrily, watching as Kageroza grins.

"Well well, if it isn't Ichigo Kurosaki. Seems the major distortion in space is screwing things up for me." Kageroza says in a provocative manner.

"Space distortion?" Rukia says somewhat surprised, as Kageroza lets out a small sigh before explaining.

"I take it you've already found out about our combined worlds. It seems that the combined overflow of reishi and _magic_ is causing distortions in space. These purple portals that act as travel routes between the two worlds make it much harder for me to control the Dangai precipice world." Kageroza explains. Ichigo instantly assumes that he's up to something, and holds his zanpakuto in a battle-ready manner.

"What are you up to this time?!" Ichigo demands angrily, as Kageroza only grins in contentment.

"That does not concern you, Ichigo Kurosaki." Kageroza says defensively, provoking Ichigo furthermore.

"ANSWER ME!" Ichigo angrily yells, swinging his zanpakuto towards his direction, surprising Rukia.

"Wait a minute Ichigo!" Rukia shouts, trying to stop him, but being too late. Ichigo swings his zanpakuto with great strength, gathering a massive amount of blue reiatsu on the blade.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo shouts, swinging it furthermore with great force and releasing a large blue wave of spiritual pressure, flying towards Kageroza at high speed. Kageroza grins in response, watching it come closer to him. He pulls out his already released zanpakuto, attempting to stop it. He spins it and it opens another yellow portal, watching it catch the Getsuga Tensho and absorb it. "Dammit!" Ichigo says to himself frustrated, watching with increasing anger as Kageroza grins at his failure.

"You should be patient Ichigo. Rather, you should be excited. This time, I get a chance at making reigai of wizards from the other world!" Kageroza says with an extreme sense of joy, soon laughing somewhat hysterically afterwards. "This time, when I get my hands on her again, stopping me will be inconceivable!" Kageroza says, getting excited just over the idea of it alone. Ichigo's anger hits limits and he swings his sword once again.

"I won't let you!" Ichigo shouts angrily, firing another Getsuga Tensho at Kageroza. Kageroza reacts by spinning his sword in the opposite direction, which opens another portal. However, this time, Ichigo's previous Getsuga Tensho comes flying out of it; coming straight at the new one Ichigo had just fired.

"Ichigo, get down!" Rukia shouts, grabbing Ichigo and forcing him to the ground for cover. The two Getsuga Tenshos come at each other, colliding with great force but not exploding. They go at each other for a few seconds before their forces against each other cause them to split ways. One of them goes to the right and the other one goes to the left. They collide into already destroyed buildings in the Seireitei, causing more damage in the process. Both Ichigo and Rukia get up after realizing that the two Getsuga Tenshos are gone. "That was a close one." Rukia says relieved, calming down as Ichigo still stares at Kageroza angrily.

"Bastard!" Ichigo says angrily, getting ready for another attempt at taking him down. Kageroza's smile quickly turns to a displeased expression at the sight of this.

"I don't have much time to be playing with you two." Kageroza says, gaining a serious tone in the process. While watching Ichigo prepare to attack, Kageroza holds his zanpakuto in the air, spinning it at a high speed. Suddenly, a bell like chime is heard, and seconds later, he's behind Ichigo and Rukia. Rukia turns around quickly in surprise, before being caught off guard by Ichigo himself getting caught in one of his portals.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouts, grabbing his arm and pulling it with all her strength. Ichigo struggles to break free as Kageroza smiles in success, receiving a menacing glare from Rukia.

"Tell me! Why are you still so desperate to get your hands on her?!" Rukia demands while struggling to save Ichigo. Kageroza narrows his eyes while still smiling in a provocative manner.

"While I still strive to get back Nozomi for my personal plans, Rukia Kuchiki, I do have some extra things I want to sort out, especially with this so called _magic, _now floating between the two of our worlds." Kageroza explains, as Rukia further demands what these, "Extra things," are. "I don't have time to chat with you two." Kageroza says seriously, losing his smile once again and turning around. He is then somewhat startled by the appearance of a purple portal, only to regain his lost smile once again. "Or should I say, you five." Kageroza says surprised, watching as three figures come through the portal, landing in the Seireitei in a state of frustration. Rukia and Ichigo notice, feeling greatly relieved at their appearance.

"It's you three!" Rukia says relieved, staring back at Gajeel, Erza and Kyousuke, who just came through the portal. Gajeel looks at Kageroza perplexed, getting himself ready to fight him at any moment.

"Who's this freak?" Gajeel says in a serious tone, watching as Kageroza feels insulted by his remark.

"Freak?!" Kageroza says, starting to spark up anger before forcing himself to restrain it. He loses his anger and plans his next move. "Sorry, but I don't have time to chat with you magic users." Kageroza says, holding up his zanpakuto and spinning it at high speed. The three wizards prepare themselves for an upcoming attack, only to be surprised that there is none. The same bell-like chime is heard, and he suddenly disappears without a trace. The three look around for where he could be, along with Rukia who's still trying to pull Ichigo out of the portal.

"He's gone!" Kyousuke says surprised, watching Erza run up and help out Rukia. Gajeel and Kyousuke then notice Ichigo being trapped inside of the portal, and they both run up to help him.

"What happened?!" Erza asks out of worry, pulling on Ichigo's arm along with Rukia.

"I'll explain after we save Ichigo." Rukia says while still struggling. Gajeel and Kyousuke walk up and also grab Ichigo's arm, both being surprised at how strong the portal is. With enough force, they eventually force Ichigo out of the portal. The portal closes itself afterwards, and they all stumble back a bit before regaining control over themselves. Rukia takes to moment to take a breather, brushing of her Shinigami robe. "Before I explain, how did you get here without using the Dangai Precipice world?" Rukia asks curiously; as Kyousuke goes on to explain.

"We were examining a strange cave and got trapped inside by something unknown. It was more like a trap so to speak." Kyousuke explains, as Rukia nods, understanding.

"So who was that man we just saw?" Erza asks, watching Rukia pull out her zanpakuto and prepare to open a senkaimon.

"I'll explain back in the world of the living." She says, turning her zanpakuto like a key and opening a senkaimon. "From what I've heard, there is a major overload of reishi and magic, and it's causing warps in space itself. It's most likely that if we are large groups split into several worlds, instead of all of us just staying in a single world, we would add to the major overflow and cause something seriously bad to happen." Rukia explains, sheathing her zanpakuto as Ichigo proceeds to enter first.

"Then let's get back to the world of the living." Ichigo says calmly, though frustrated with the return of Kageroza, and worried about Nozomi. With that, they all enter after one another, heading back to the world of the living through the Dangai precipice world.

"Just remember to be careful. We don't know what could happen now inside of the Dangai precipice world." Rukia warns, as everyone else gets the message. Soon enough, they disappear from the Soul Society and they enter the Dangai precipice world.

In the meantime, Nozomi actually appears in the world of the living. She appears right in-front of the waterfall that Kyousuke, Gajeel, and Erza went to previously. However, this time, it was flowing like a normal waterfall should be. Nozomi looks around in confusion, wondering where she could've possibly landed.

"Where am I?" She asks herself in wonder. She crosses her arms and starts walking away from the waterfall into the forest. She was more worried about Ichigo than herself, however. The minute she walks on a tuff of grass, she hears rustling through a tree next to her. She suddenly widens her eyes a bit and gets into a defensive position, wondering what it was. She stands there in a defensive position for a little bit, before lowering her guard in a sense of safety. However, suddenly something pops out of the tree, scaring her as she gets back into her defensive position. It was just Natsu though, as he is hanging upside down from the tree, staring into Nozomi's eyes with confusion.

"Huh? Who are you?" Natsu asks while upside down in a cheery tone. Nozomi starts to calm herself down as she realizes that he's not a threat.

"It's none of your business." She says in a defensive way, starting to walk away from Natsu and find out where she is. Natsu drops himself down to where he can see her clearly, and starts walking up to her concerned.

"Come on now, I'm just trying to help you." Natsu says concerned, walking up to her as Nozomi glares at him irritated.

"How am I supposed to trust someone with a weird mark on their stomach?" Nozomi straightforwardly points out with a _leave me alone_ type of tone. He looks at the mark on his stomach and he gets annoyed by her comment.

"Hey, it's not what you think!" Natsu says in a somewhat irritated way. Suddenly, Nozomi widens her eyes for a moment, looking into Natsu as if he was related to someone else in a way. She gets caught up in it, and Natsu stares at her perplexed. "Hey, are you ok?" Natsu asks, as Nozomi suddenly snaps out of it.

"Uh—"she says, getting back to touch with reality, "It's nothing." Natsu looks at her a bit perplexed for a minute, before a cheerful grin comes clean across his face. Nozomi starts to feel a bit calmer around Natsu now, for the same reason she got stuck on earlier. Natsu starts scratching the back of his head for a bit before asking Nozomi a question.

"Hey, have you seen a red-haired woman around here, wearing armor." Natsu asks curiously. Nozomi turns to Natsu in surprise, remembering when she was in the portal. The sight of a red-haired woman, a long black-haired male, and another blond-haired male came back to her.

"I saw a red-haired woman with a long black-haired man and a blonde-haired man inside of a portal, alright?" She says irritated, watching as Natsu shows signs of relief and hope.

"Gajeel and that other guy were with her?" Natsu asks hopefully, as Nozomi gets irritated, wanting him to leave her alone.

"Why is it so important to you anyway?" Nozomi asks Natsu.

"Because she's my friend, now do you know where they are?" Natsu asks slightly angered and determined. Nozomi suddenly feels surprise by hearing his determination. She looks down at the ground, surprised but also changing to a sadden tone of voice. The thoughts of a dreadful past came back to haunt her again.

"I don't know where they went." She says calmly. Natsu loses his anger and calms down upon hearing this. Though, he's not angry with her in any sort.

"Jeez, I'm right here." A familiar voice says, as Natsu turns around in surprise and Nozomi looks up startled. "No need to get so edgy." Erza says calmly with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. Natsu gains a smile on his face, relieved of her safe return.

"It's you Erza!" Natsu says energized, ready to fight at any moment. "Fight me now!" Natsu says engaged. However, he becomes disappointed by Erza's denial.

"Not now Natsu, we still have work to do." Erza says calmly, upsetting Natsu as he had hoped to fight her with nothing else to do. Nozomi looked at them both in surprise. Ichigo then appears behind her and puts a hand on their shoulder. She looks at him in surprise, feeling sudden relief at his return.

"It's alright; they're on our side." Ichigo tells her calmly. Nozomi then felt reassured, knowing that if Ichigo could trust them, then she could too. Suddenly, Lucy and Wendy appear, running through the trees to get to Natsu. They jump out and see Natsu, feeling relieved at knowing he's alright.

"There they are!" Wendy says relieved. They both run up to Erza and Natsu, Wendy noticing Gajeel with his arm crossed, staring at the waterfall he was at earlier.

"Jeez, there you are!" Lucy says somewhat annoyed. "You know, you could've told me were you ran off to." She goes on. Natsu starts scratching the back of his head while grinning in response.

"I guess so. Sorry about that." Natsu says a bit cheerfully. Lucy then smiles back in response. She was happy that Natsu was back to his normal self again. It put her at ease, along with Erza who was also relieved. Wendy was happy too, but it didn't last for long. Suddenly, a familiar, horrific presence came back. It was that same presence that appeared when Natsu hit something in the air back in Karakura town. Her eyes widened a bit in slight fear, as she started to look around her, wondering where it could be.

"It's that thing again!" Wendy says shocked, as she starts looking around in fear. Erza and Lucy stare at her, along with Ichigo, Rukia and Nozomi who have no idea what's going on. Natsu felt different, however.

"I sense it too." Natsu says, with incoming anger entering his system. He also was looking around for its presence.

"It's coming after us." Kyousuke says seriously, noticing it as well. Gajeel turns around, also noticing its presence. The only ones who could feel it were Wendy, Natsu, Gajeel and Kyousuke. No one else in the group could feel its presence. It was like they were a special group of people. The spiritual pressure of the presence began to increase with every passing second.

"We need to get out of here, right now." Kyousuke suggests in a serious state. Before anyone did anything, though, another purple portal appears in-front of Kyousuke. It surprises everyone, as some start to back away from it. However, no one is sucked in, but something is pushed out. A small, black figure came out unconscious. It landed on the ground like a doll, prompting Kyousuke to run after it. The portal disappeared afterwards as everyone looked at it in surprise. It looked really familiar to Gajeel, so he started walking towards Kyousuke to see what it was for himself. Kyousuke held it in his arms gently. It had a white face with black fur and green pants. Kyousuke instantly knew what it was from those details. "It's an exceed." Kyousuke announces, prompting Gajeel to run up to it.

"My cat!" Gajeel shouts surprised, running up to it in a sense of worry. Kyousuke gave the exceed to Gajeel as he held it up, making sure it was ok.

"It's Pantherlily!" Erza says surprised, prompting everyone else to run up to Gajeel in order to see him. Ichigo, Rukia, and Nozomi were concerned, but confused. They had remembered Happy with Natsu, with the exception of Nozomi, but they didn't expect Gajeel to have a cat as well. Nozomi thought of how strange the cat looked compared to the cats she normally saw. Kyousuke stared at Pantherlily with concern, but he had a noticeably saddened expression on his face. No one seemed to notice it though, as they were too concerned with Pantherlily's well-being. Natsu suddenly gets angry, staring towards the location of the creepy presence with increasing anger.

"Whoever's behind this is gonna pay!" Natsu says angrily and darkly.

"If you want to do that, I suggest we get moving and start finding out more about this issue." Kyousuke informs calmly. "We'll bring Pantherlily along with us." Kyousuke says. Gajeel would've taken Pantherlily with him whether they liked it or not, so it all played out well. Rukia decides not to go with them, however.

"Ichigo!" Rukia says, getting his attention as he turns to her. "Now that we know Nozomi is safe, I think we should head back to the Soul Society and keep searching for anything behind this." Rukia suggests, as Ichigo agrees.

"Alright then, let's head back." He says calmly, getting ready to leave, only to see Nozomi interfere.

"I'm coming with you." Nozomi says calmly, but determined. Rukia was surprised by this, but a calm Ichigo walks up to her and puts his hand on her shoulder. Surprised, she stares into Ichigo's eyes with confusion.

"Nozomi, I want you to stay here." Ichigo tells her. She suddenly becomes reluctant to the idea, but Ichigo goes on to explain. "They'll have better odds at protecting you than we will right now." Ichigo explains calmly, convincing the reluctant Nozomi to follow along with them.

"Alright then, I will." She says calmly. A smile comes across Ichigo's face in assurance. Rukia then opens a senkaimon for them to enter. Rukia enters first, Ichigo following after as he stares at Nozomi the entire time. He enters the senkaimon and it closes behind him. Realizing that he has already left for the Soul Society, she narrows her eyes, hoping he'll be alright. Behind her, a hand comes onto her shoulder. She turns around to realize it was Natsu.

"Don't worry, he'll make it. You just stay with us and we'll protect you!" Natsu says cheerfully. Lucy and Wendy smile along with him as Nozomi starts to feel included within the group. Nozomi gains a slight smile on her face in response.

"Alright then, let's go." Nozomi says. She began to felt more comfortable around them like she did when she was with Ichigo and his friends. The four walk up to the other four in the group, Erza asking if they're ready as they respond with a yes.

"Let's get a move on then." Kyousuke says calmly. With that, they all start walking even farther away from Karakura town, hoping to find out more about this incident along the way.


	8. Chapter 8: A Unique Bond

Chapter 8: A Unique Bond

They soon embarked on another journey, attempting to find out more about this incident along the way. They walked out of the forest down into what seemed to be a small, deserted shopping center. They needed a faster form of transportation, so the entire group went through the center, looking for anything that might help them. They also bought some stuff for their own along the way, such as new clothes, food, medical equipment, and other things that they wanted or needed. Nozomi wasn't very interested in getting anything herself. She couldn't anyways, because she had no money with her. However, Lucy did buy her a beige jacket that she could wear, and Nozomi was happy about it. The group did split their own ways, Wendy going with Gajeel and Pantherlily (He's still unconscious), Kyousuke going with Erza, and Lucy going with Natsu and Nozomi. With Kyousuke and Erza, Kyousuke had bought a bag with a bunch of items inside of it, mainly peaches and iron bricks.

"Why would you buy iron bricks?" Erza asks perplexed, watching Kyousuke examine them to make sure they were of high quality.

"For whom do you think would eat them?" Kyousuke explains, as Erza then gets the picture.

"I see." She says, realizing who they are for. Erza was digging into the situation between them once again. "So there is something going on between you two." Erza explains with a perverse expression. She knew that there was something happening between the two of them, whether they chose to deny it or not. Kyousuke turns his head and looks at the buildings around him after hearing this.

"What makes you think that?" Kyousuke asks curiously. Erza closes her eyes in confidence, not backing down until she finds out what's really happening between them.

"He doesn't ever seem to mind you being around him, and since when does a stranger by stuff personally for one specific person?" Erza explains, digging even further to the truth. Kyousuke realizes that she has figured it out, taking a deep breath before responding back.

"Alright then, we do have some sort of connection." Kyousuke says cleverly, pulling his hand through his hair while they were walking. "Let's not ruin the mystery though." He finalizes, as Erza then quits on the topic. They continue walking down until something useful catches their eyes.

"What are we gonna do with a nine-passenger vehicle Derick!" A woman says to her husband. The sound of _a nine-passenger vehicle_ caught Erza and Kyousuke's attentions. They look to their right to see a large, white-colored vehicle with brown borders on it. It seemed that Derick and his wife were arguing over financial issues because of Derick buying the vehicle.

"I need to get to work somehow! This is all they had!" Derick tells his wife upsettingly. She holds her hands on her hips and shakes her head, tapping the floor with her black shoes.

"Who needs a vehicle right now, Derick?!" She angrily argues, as Derick shakes his head in disappointment.

"We could definitely use a vehicle." Erza says, interrupting as Kyousuke stands with her. Startled by their appearance, the wife walks up to both of them. She seemed quite happy about it.

"We'll give this to you at 500." The woman proposes, Derick standing back shaking his head in disappointment.

"Alright then, it's a deal." Kyousuke says, pulling out a large sum of money and giving it to her. She gladly takes it, pulling out some car keys and handing them to Kyousuke, greatly surprising Derick.

"Where did you get those?!" Derick says surprised, as his wife just smiles at the money, counting it. Erza and Kyousuke get into the vehicle as she continues to count every buck.

"This will be perfect!" Erza says satisfied. They start the car and prepare to leave, only to be stopped by the woman.

"Hold on just a minute! This is 750!" The woman informs. Kyousuke only turns his head to her and smiles.

"Keep it. You need it more than I do anyways." Kyousuke tells her. She stares at him in awe as he hits the gas pedal, moving the large car forward and driving off. The woman then gains a large smile and runs over to tell Derick of the extra cash. Kyousuke checks if everything is ok, only to see that the gas is almost empty. He instantly stops the car, surprising Erza greatly. "We need gasoline right now." Kyousuke says regretfully, realizing that he had gave a large sum of money that he actually needed to the woman.

"I'll go and get some then." Erza says, getting out first and not bothering Kyousuke over it. She walks off to search for places to buy gasoline, as Kyousuke stands by and guards the car.

Meanwhile, Gajeel (holding Pantherlily) and Wendy were just walking around, checking out items. Wendy had bought a green and blue multi-colored dress because she liked the way it looked. At the moment, they were at a music store, in which Kyousuke could see them from the car. Kyousuke had a serious urge to go to the place. He could see all the instruments and albums in the corner of his eye.

"Where is she?!" He thinks to himself, desperately wanting to go there.

"I got the gasoline." Erza says, being there with large tanks of gasoline to fill the vehicle with. They were more like large barrels with special pumps so they could fill the vehicle up with it. Kyousuke felt relief at this sight.

"Alright then." Kyousuke says, walking up to her and opening the gas tank on the vehicle. "Just put it all in here." Kyousuke says, ready to storm off at any moment. She begins to do so, leaving Kyousuke the opportunity to leave.

"I'm going to look for some more things we might need." Kyousuke tells her. Erza was too busy with the tank of gasoline to respond, so Kyousuke walked off and went over to the music store in a sense of relief. There was a lot of stuff in the store, namely guitars, orchestra instruments, popular modern rock albums and many different musical items. Gajeel in particular was enjoying his time in the store, mainly looking at all the different guitars in store. He was going to grab one until something strange caught his eye, a piano with multiple knobs on it.

"What the?" He thought to himself, walking over to the instrument and looking at it with interest. The most confusing thing on it were the loads of knobs located above the keys. "What kind of piano is this?" Gajeel asks with a perplexed tone.

"It's actually a synthesizer." Kyousuke says, appearing right behind him. Gajeel turns to see him walking up to the piano, ready to do some work with it. "It's a special kind of instrument where you can make your own sounds and make music using them." Kyousuke explains. The thought already sounded amazing to Gajeel.

"Serious?" Gajeel says surprised, as Kyousuke nods his head in assurance.

"Completely serious. Watch." Kyousuke says, grabbing one of the knobs. It said "OSC," on it, and he turned it one notch down. He messed around with other knobs that said ATK, SUS, RLS, PHS, and others. He also set the filter to a Low Pass filter. Gajeel watched his every move, ready to hear the results of his work. Kyousuke presses a set of keys in an E Minor 7th chord. It produced a cool, retro, atmospheric sounding sound that was incredible to listen to. Not only did it amaze Gajeel, it caught everyone else's attention. No one there had manipulated a synth to the level Kyousuke just had, and the sound was also incredible. Everyone started clapping for his result, as Kyousuke turned around in surprise. He felt astonished at being thanked for his work. It sent a feeling of gratitude down himself. Gajeel was also surprised, but a sudden feeling of competition started to erase that feeling. Surprisingly, Erza was standing at the entrance to the shop, smiling cleverly at Kyousuke's skills.

"I see you have a talent for music." Erza says slightly surprised. Kyousuke turns and looks at her surprised, but calms himself down and takes a breather.

"Well, music's my thing, you know." Kyousuke explains, as Erza smiles in response.

"Well then, we should get going. The vehicles already ready." Erza says, turning around and leaving the shop. Kyousuke and Gajeel watch her leave and head for the vehicle. Kyousuke then turns to Gajeel, managing to get his attention with a single look.

"Maybe sometime I can help you out with synthesis too. I can tell you like music just as much as I do." Kyousuke says, surprising Gajeel. The thought of competing against Kyousuke was immediately erased as he was surprised that he would say something like that. A surprised expression covered his face, before it returned to normal.

"Yeah, sure." Gajeel says calmly. He turns and starts to head for the vehicle, in which Kyousuke follows him out of the music store. The manager shouts to them to come back sometime, wanting to see an amazing performance like that again in the future. They start head back when suddenly, Pantherlily wakes up. It surprised Gajeel greatly as he had just randomly woke up.

"Gajeel?!" Pantherlily says surprised in a tough sounding voice, but quietly. A smile comes across Gajeel's face in seconds.

"Ha! I knew you were too tough to die on me!" Gajeel says pride-fully, Pantherlily smiling in response. Erza turned around startled, realizing that Pantherlily was awake.

"He's awake!" Erza shouts surprised, running up to Gajeel to talk to Pantherlily. "What on earth happened to you?!" Erza says in a worried state. Pantherlily, still lying in Gajeel's arms, begins to think about it. However, he instantly draws a blank.

"I can't remember." Pantherlily says straightforwardly, surprising the two more. "That's surprising." Erza says calmly. Gajeel tries to get him to remember, but Pantherlily is more concerned with something else. He looked around Gajeel to see Kyousuke walking up to them, wondering who he was.

"Who's this?" Pantherlily says, seeing Kyousuke standing right with the group. Erza decided to introduce Kyousuke to him, since it seemed that he was staying with them the whole time.

"Pantherlily, this is Kyousuke. He's here to help us with our current problem." Erza explains, as Pantherlily looks back at Kyousuke in question.

"Here to help us?" Pantherlily says somewhat lost.

"Why else would I be here?" Kyousuke says in a calm tone. Pantherlily then jumps off of Gajeel's arms and gets on the ground.

"You make a good point." Pantherlily says calmly, stretching himself out to get used to being awake again. Erza starts to think that they are losing track of time and they need to get a move on.

"We should get moving quickly." Erza says, turning and heading for the vehicle. Kyousuke calmly follows her, going on to help Lucy and the others get into the vehicle. Gajeel stood there with his arms crossed, looking down at Pantherlily, who looked back up at him.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to him." Gajeel tells Pantherlily, smiling with a pleased grin. Pantherlily was struck by this in a strange way, but nodded in understanding of his words. They then headed for the vehicle so they all could get out of this place.

In time, they all get in the vehicle. It had four seats, two rows, and one driver seat. Erza had decided that she drive for the trip, wondering what driving without using all your magic energy up would be like. Natsu was sitting up in the front seat behind Erza by himself, knocked out because he was already getting motion sick and he was annoyed Erza a _LOT_. Gajeel and Kyousuke were sitting in the seat opposite to Natsu's. Lucy and Nozomi were sitting in the seat behind Natsu, and Pantherlily and Wendy were sitting in the seat behind Gajeel and Kyousuke. Erza started up the car, ready to drive. She then drove off into a dirt road that left the small shopping center and went farther away from Karakura town. Pantherlily kept pondering at what Gajeel had said earlier.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to him," was what kept repeating in his head in Gajeel's voice. The grin was even more perplexing to him.

"This is very interesting." Pantherlily thinks to himself perplexed. "Gajeel barely ever smiles, especially at the hands of a newcomer. Who is that person?" Pantherlily thinks to himself again. Wendy turned and saw Pantherlily with his straight face, wondering if he's ok.

"Are you ok?" Wendy asks politely, snapping Pantherlily out of his thoughts as he stares at Wendy slightly perplexed.

"Why? What is it?" Pantherlily asks her, as she smiles and closes her eyes politely.

"You just seemed frustrated there." Wendy says politely. Pantherlily then relaxes himself by taking a deep breath, smiling afterwards.

"Well…I'm fine, don't worry." Pantherlily tells her calmly. He then decided that he shouldn't worry too much about Kyousuke.

"Oh well. It's good to see a smile on Gajeel's face." Pantherlily thinks to himself calmly, happy on the inside for Gajeel's well-being. Currently, with Natsu knocked out for the time being, they could have peace and quiet for the trip. Erza knew that everyone else wouldn't be a pain to deal with. She was also enjoying the experience of driving without using her magic power. She could go as fast as she wanted without limits, with the exception of gasoline. She had put extra in the back of the vehicle though, so they were covered. While they were driving away, Kyousuke was sitting next to the window, staring out the window, lost in thoughts. Gajeel turned and looked at him with wonder. Kyousuke really was a mystery, just like Gajeel himself. It was interesting for him.

"Are you just going to stare through that window the whole time?" Gajeel asks in his typical tone of voice. Kyousuke continued to stare through the window.

"Most likely, yes." Kyousuke says calmly. He turned to look at Gajeel, who was staring at him with his typical, serious expression.

"Why?" Kyousuke asks calmly.

"Cuz it sounds boring." Gajeel says, looking away from him and off into space. Gajeel was obviously bored, staring off and holding his head up with his left arm, it resting on an arm-rest on the seat. Kyousuke reached into his bag he had with him earlier and grabbed out an iron brick. It was still in the cardboard wrapping, and he held it out to Gajeel, who wasn't paying attention.

"This will make it not so boring." Kyousuke says calmly. Gajeel turns and looks back at him, as he's holding the iron out to him. It catches his attention, as he grabs it and looks at it. On the wrapping it said, "Premium grade iron." There wasn't much else on it, except for packaging information. "It's the highest quality iron I could find." Kyousuke says calmly, Gajeel turning to him in surprise. "I didn't want to get you something that tastes like utter crap." Kyousuke explains. Gajeel then turned back to the iron, instantly ripping off its wrapping and taking a bite for himself. To him, it tasted exquisite. It wasn't gross or disgusting in any sort of way. Gajeel slightly widened his eyes in surprise of its excellent taste, continuing to eat it up in enjoyment. "I got a lot more, just in case." Kyousuke tells him, watching him finish up his last bite. Even though it tasted great, Gajeel didn't ask him for another one. He just sat back, enjoying the aftertaste while staring off into space once again. With that, Kyousuke turned and started to look out of the window once again, starting to get lost into his own thoughts again.

Later on, Kyousuke is seen asleep against the window. Natsu was still knocked out, and Lucy and Nozomi were talking about what they liked to do, which didn't work out too well. Wendy was asleep and Pantherlily was watching her, thinking about their experience on Tenrou Island and the Grand Magic Games. Lastly, Gajeel was still staring off into space, thinking about something on his mind. Erza, however, was still driving the car as far as she could. She was starting to run low on gas, but it wasn't necessary to refill just yet. Funny thing is, the car couldn't go very fast. It had a top speed of 95 mph, so it couldn't go too fast, especially on dirt.

"This isn't as enjoyable as I hoped for." Erza says sadly, starting to get very bored with the job, but not choosing to give up on it either. They were driving up a large curve on a Cliffside, and normally Natsu would be puking himself out. Thanks to Erza, however, he was knocked out and saved from that horror. Gajeel would possibly be getting sick as well, but surprisingly, it wasn't so. Kyousuke was sleeping, but he kept moving around uncomfortably as the ride kept going, and Wendy was sleeping comfortably still. Gajeel was staring at Erza for a while before he turned and looked back at Kyousuke. He could notice him trying to get into a comfortable position. The thought of him started to come back to him, as he tried remembering who he was once again. He kept at it, but for a while, nothing was coming to him.

"Why does he look so freakin familiar?!" Gajeel thinks to himself, trying to figure out what it was. Suddenly, he hears a loud yell, screaming, "NOOOO!" He then saw a younger person reaching out to him in less than a second, before he instantly lost the image. He widened his eyes at the thought, and let out a slight gasp. Erza had turned to him, hearing the gasp, but only saw him sitting normally as before. He was staring at Kyousuke still, watching him sleep against the window still, after making a successful attempt at making it seem like nothing happened. He felt something for him, but he couldn't make it up. It was like they had some sort of unknown connection that they have to find out about to get closer.

"Maybe sometime I can help you out with synthesis too. I can tell you like music just as much as I do." Kyousuke says in Gajeel's memory. It was perplexing for him, but he didn't bother with it too much. He was touched by it in an interesting way, one that says _let's bond_, and one that says _remember me_. It was yet that they find out about what's really the deal between them.


	9. Chapter 9: From Rivalry to Hatred

Chapter 9: From Rivalry to Hatred

They were all still in the vehicle, driving away from Karakura town as far as they could. Erza kept on driving despite not wanting to anymore, it being near midnight at this point in time. She checked behind her to make sure everyone else was fine. Kyousuke and Wendy were still sleeping, and Gajeel, Pantherlily, Lucy and Nozomi were perfectly fine. She started to turn back around to look at where she's driving, but something abnormal caught her eye. Natsu was awake, just lying there with his hands behind his head and with narrowed eyes.

"Natsu?!" Erza says surprised, getting everyone's attention, except Kyousuke and Wendy, as they look at Natsu surprised. It wasn't him being awake that was surprising to them, though. There was something else more mysterious. The expression on his face was perplexing to everyone. He never had such a face. He was usually happy all the time and even when he was mad or upset, he didn't have piercing, narrowed eyes on his face. "Are you ok Natsu?" Erza asks confused. He just turns his head slightly away from her direction in response.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Natsu says in a more dark sounding tone. Erza started to think about Natsu, noticing that he wasn't acting normal.

"Something's not right. He's not usually like this." Erza thinks to herself confused. Gajeel couldn't help but notice that he wasn't puking himself out.

"Since when does fire-breath not wanna puke right now?" Gajeel taunts. Natsu just rolls his eyes back to Erza's direction.

"I'm not a weakling like you are." Natsu straightforwardly says. Gajeel turns to his direction with a now annoyed expression on his face.

"Weakling?" Gajeel says slightly angered. Natsu was being arrogant which was unusual, but Gajeel was getting angered over it and he didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, you heard me." Natsu says coldly, angering Gajeel furthermore. Lucy was starting to worry about them fighting on the vehicle, not wanting to get involved in their battles.

"Natsu, I think this isn't the best time to be fighting." Lucy warns worried, Nozomi staring at her concerned. Natsu shoots a menacing glare at her, scaring and shocking her greatly.

"What? Are you scared Lucy? Can't the Celestial Wizard handle a little words?" Natsu says in a vulgar way. Lucy started to look at Natsu with a very worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong with him?!" Lucy thinks to herself worried. Gajeel angrily interrupts Natsu's arrogant ranting.

"That wasn't just some words you moron!" Gajeel angrily shouts. Natsu gives him an extremely perverse expression, narrowing his eyes and glaring at him with a smirk on his face.

"You know Gajeel, you haven't changed much." Natsu says rudely.

"What are you saying?" Gajeel asks angrily, as Natsu begin to pour the hot water.

"You act like you're so tough, going around and ignoring people wherever you go. You wanted to take me down so bad back in Phantom, and I took your ass down." Natsu explains. Gajeel was getting very angry and temperamental over Natsu. He wanted to flat out slam him into the ground for bringing bad memories like that up again.

"I'm not that Iron piece of junk anymore." Gajeel says seriously, causing Natsu to laugh a bit hysterically.

"Hate to break it to ya, but you're still an Iron piece of junk. Heck, even on Tenrou Island, you needed Levy to take care of you. Man, if you tried to protect her, I'd be afraid that she might die cause of you." Natsu says scornfully. He was breaking into Gajeel's core at this point. Gajeel was very pissed off, wanting to destroy Natsu for what he just said at this point. Erza had intervened before anything got worse.

"Natsu! That's ENOUGH!" Erza yells angrily, trying to stop Natsu. She was also concerned however, as she was wondering what in the hell would've made him say things like that. He didn't trust some people, but he would never use someone's personal feelings against them in such a horrible way. As for the vehicle, they had just drove out of the long spiral canyon and onto another road that continued farther from Karakura town.

"I don't need to be told what to do from a weakling." Natsu says rudely, Erza turning around to punish him before he interrupts her. Gajeel's iron shield on his anger was cracking apart as Natsu kept this up. "You're so weak, you couldn't even save Jellal." Natsu says insultingly. Suddenly, Erza eyes widened in a state of enragement. Natsu had just blew her sockets. Enraged, she slams on the breaks, causing the vehicle to halt in an instant. Kyousuke and Wendy slam their heads against the seat backings in-front of them painfully, Pantherlily trying to take care of Wendy. Lucy and Nozomi hold on to each other so that they don't hurt themselves. Gajeel slides across the floor on the vehicle, not falling down but sliding to the back of the vehicle on his feet. Natsu gets up in a bold way, preparing for a fight as he stands there with a menacing glare on his face.

"NATSU!" Erza screams in an outrage, requipping one of her swords and heading straight for Natsu in an attempt to take him out. Gajeel also attacks, as they both are aiming to take Natsu out. Kyousuke, clearing his mind and noticing what's happening, realizes that their rage is going to destroy the vehicle. If Natsu were to ignite his flames large enough, he could cause the gasoline tanks to explode and destroy everything within a large radius, killing them all if they were to withstand its blast at point-blank range, being un-prepared.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! This vehicle has loads of flammable gas!" Kyousuke screams in an effort to stop them. Both Erza and Gajeel realize this right away, trying to stop themselves from blowing everything up. Kyousuke quickly runs through the bus at a very high speed, heading for Wendy and Pantherlily. He grabs them both and quickly grabs Nozomi's hand, as Lucy holds on to Nozomi's other hand. Kyousuke tries to get them all out of the vehicle and into safety as the ensuing chaos begins to emerge. Gajeel and Erza manage to slow themselves down to a degree, but they look up to be shocked at another sight. Natsu was grinning sadistically with his palms emerged in flames, having overheard Kyousuke's explanation earlier.

"Let's turn up the heat!" Natsu says sadistically, preparing to blow up the gasoline tanks in the back of the vehicle. Erza widens her eyes in shock upon hearing this.

"NATSU! This is MADNESS! STOP!" She screams continuously, being further shocked when Natsu gains an even bigger grin on his face.

"That BASTARD!" Gajeel says to himself angrily. He heads to take out Natsu before he can do such a thing, heading for a hit to the stomach to stop him. Natsu does, however, turn up the heat. He prepares to fire his own dragon's roar in Gajeel's directions, in which behind Gajeel lies the gasoline tanks.

"FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" Natsu yells, releasing a large stream of flames that are very hot. They head for the gasoline tanks and manage to make contact. The gasoline ignites, and the tanks explode. The entire vehicle is destroyed to bits, with only flames being visible at this point. It seems that Gajeel and Erza had made it out of the vehicle safely, with only very slight blemishes on their arms as a result of the flames. They were standing boldly, waiting for Natsu to come out so they could stop him.

"What the hell has happened to him?!" Erza thinks to herself shocked. She was both worried and pissed off. What happened to Natsu was what she was worried with, but to be told that she couldn't save Jellal was too much. She had wanted to cry but she held herself back. She also had wanted to severely beat up Natsu, but she knew that he never acts like this, and something was seriously wrong with him. Gajeel, on the other-hand, was about to have no regrets. He cared about Levy a lot, and to hear that from Natsu was just cruel. Being told about losing at his hands and not being able to win for once was also something he loathed. However, Gajeel was more hateful than sorrow, and he wasn't about to let Natsu get away with it. Gajeel gripped his fist tightly, ready to take him out straight up.

"He's gonna pay for that!" Gajeel thinks to himself angrily. Suddenly, Natsu can be seen with an extremely sadistic expression on his face. He was standing in a way that Gajeel would've stood in battle, holding his arms out in a way that says _give me your best shot_.

"Would you look at this, four dragon slayers and an S-Class Wizard here to play a game of war." Natsu says sadistically, pacing back and forth in a small radius. Both Gajeel and Erza react, being a bit surprised.

"Four dragon slayers?" Erza says confused, wondering of what he might be saying. There was only Gajeel, Wendy and Natsu, so who else would he be talking about. There was another Dragon Slayer named Laxus who went to Fairy Tail, but he wasn't with them. "Laxus isn't here Natsu!" Erza explains, Natsu quickly interrupting her.

"I'm not talking about mister I'm gonna rule Fairy Tail cuz I feel overlooked. I'm talking about spark number 2." Natsu says while holding up two fingers, confusing both Gajeel and Erza greatly. He was saying everything in riddles, and it was confusing.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Gajeel says confused, Natsu grinning even more with Gajeel's anger.

"You both liked each other, but you were separated and with your mind being blocked from reality, I would feel betrayed!" Natsu explains, Gajeel getting angry with his speaking in riddles. Natsu was making absolutely no sense.

"Why don't you speak in our language?!" Gajeel shouts angrily, getting annoyed with Natsu's sudden way of speaking in riddles.

"It's so obvious, he likes you a lot but won't tell you anything. He's holding back!" Natsu says while laughing hysterically, further confusing Gajeel and Erza as he continues to explain.

"Who is this person you're talking about?!" Erza yells angrily, also getting annoyed with his speaking in riddles. Natsu had grinned suddenly as he prepared to make the answer slightly more obvious, in his eyes.

"Man, I can't believe you dumbasses go to Fairy Tail, what a joke!" Natsu shouts, angering Gajeel and Erza in response. However, Erza starts to notice something strange. Looking at Natsu's stomach, she sees the mark reacting to something. It was pumping heavily like a heartbeat, but it started to fade into a greyish color, which is why they didn't notice it right away.

"It's the mark!" Erza thinks to herself surprised, but also upset. She had no idea on how to stop it from doing that.

"Oh, is Erza worried that Jellal may not like her?" Natsu says on purpose, causing Erza to become slightly enraged again as she forgets about the mark. Though, she tries to restrain herself from attacking him.

"NATSU! Get a GRIP! This isn't like you!" Erza yells, attempting to knock Natsu back into his old self. However, Natsu only smiles more sadistically, lighting his hands on fire and ready to attack whenever he chooses.

"_Get a grip_ Erza, I'm just trying to have a little fun!" Natsu says mockingly, upsetting Erza and angering Gajeel.

"Damn you, Stupidass!" Gajeel yells angrily. Natsu looks back at Gajeel with a disappointed expression on his face.

"Says the one who tried to kill Levy and now wants to protect her. You sound like the stupid one. Are you some kind of wannabe?" Natsu says insultingly, pissing off Gajeel further more. He was about to run after Natsu to beat the living crap out of him, but was halted by Erza.

"Wait Gajeel! The mark is possessing him!" Erza says, halting Gajeel for a moment. He took a minute to think about the mark, as Natsu just stood there. This time, his eyes widened considerably and he was overly insulting in everything he said.

"Rogue was right to say that you were weaker than me, and it's gonna stay that way. I'd better get rid of the Phantom Lord Trash before it infects us warriors. I'll get rid of you, and when I find Juvia, Gray will go nuts!" Natsu says angrily and sadistically. Gajeel lost it at this point. He wasn't going to let that slide. "As for spark number two, it seems like he ran away like a little girl." Natsu says sadistically. Everything was getting out of hand every second. Erza had already given up on convincing Gajeel not to attack. He had entered his Iron Dragon Force and flew at Natsu at an incredibly high speed. Gajeel wasn't on to lose his temper so easily like Natsu, but Natsu pushed him passed those limits. An explosive battle was about to ensue. Gajeel was heading for Natsu like an Etherion blast targeted right at him, as if nothing got in his way at this point. Shockingly, Natsu did nothing to stop Gajeel. He just stood there with the same expression as before, waiting for Gajeel to get to him. Had he gone insane because of the mark? Was it possessing him? These questions couldn't be answered as Natsu was targeted. Gajeel got to him and managed to grab him by the neck, holding him up in the air while strangling him with pure hate. Natsu wasn't scared in any sort of way. He was actually laughing while being strangled.

"Go on, kill me and get expelled from Fairy Tail, or get _executed_! I _dare_ you!" Natsu says, narrowing his eyes while managing to stare Gajeel in the face. Gajeel just held Natsu up in the air, continuing to strangle him. Natsu was like a possessed doll. This event was so scary, it was lucky enough that Lucy and Wendy weren't there to witness it for themselves. Erza suddenly became scared. She knew that Natsu wasn't acting normal, but was very hurt by what he had said about Jellal. She also didn't attack Gajeel as if he was an enemy, though, because she knew that Natsu had said many worse things to him. They were rivals, of course, but Natsu would never use personal feelings to hurt his guild mates and friends, ever. She was afraid that Gajeel might actually try to kill Natsu at this point.

"GAJEEL! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" Erza screams to the Iron Dragon Slayer. He narrowed his eyes slightly and started to grit his teeth in anger, still looking at the Natsu who's gone mad. He knew that killing Natsu wasn't the best option, but he wanted to stop him with whatever means necessary. Natsu managed to laugh hysterically while being suffocated of oxygen, invoking even more anger into them.

"You'll never get to see Kyousuke again!" Natsu finalizes, lighting his hands into flames as if he was a psychic and knew where he was. Gajeel's tight grip started to cause blood to run down his arms from Natsu's neck. Both Erza and Gajeel had heard his last statement, as Erza widens her eyes in surprise.

"You can't be serious!" She thought to herself shocked, worrying over the thought instantly. Gajeel has had enough. He suddenly prepared to slam him into the ground, letting his anger get the best of him in a furious rage.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" He screams in a rage, ready to end him. Erza instantly snapped out of her thoughts and came to the realization that he was going to kill Natsu.

"WAIT! NOOOOOO!" She screams, tears flying out of her eyes. Gajeel prepares to slam him down, when suddenly, Natsu is engulfed in a large blue spark of electricity. As Gajeel stops himself, Natsu starts to lose control of himself, passing out and becoming unconscious while still in Gajeel's grip. A shocked Erza felt relief that Gajeel didn't kill Natsu, but she also felt confused of him being alright or not. A calmed down Gajeel drops Natsu, letting him hit the ground like a doll as he lies there unconscious. What had just happened was a turning point for them all to experience.


	10. Chapter 10: You're Not Alone

Chapter 10: You're Not Alone

Gajeel looked up in a distressed way, seeing Kyousuke holding out his sword, pointed at Natsu. Kyousuke, realizing that Natsu has passed out, sheaths his sword as he starts to walk up to Gajeel.

"He's not dead, but he will be unconscious for hours." Kyousuke explains. Erza felt relief at this, but Gajeel couldn't care less. Even though he knew that Natsu wouldn't say things like that, he was still pissed off for it being brought up. He wanted absolutely nothing to do with Natsu at this point. Angry, Gajeel started to walk off. He walked passed Erza and headed for a dense forest that he could see ahead. Erza felt concerned about him surprisingly, and she tried to reason with him.

"Gajeel, Natsu—"

"Leave me ALONE!" Gajeel says darkly, wanting to be alone while he dealt with his problems. He continued to walk off as Erza worried about him. What was more surprising was that he chose to stay in his Iron Dragon Force mode, which was surprising because there was no need for it at this point. Kyousuke watched regretfully as Gajeel had started to fade out of sight, heading into the forest. Erza had a distressed expression on her face. Her worrying about Gajeel, though, was a bit more than surprising. However, she wasn't the only one.

"I heard everything." Kyousuke tells her, as Erza looks up to him a bit surprised. He still had a sorrow expression on his face. "I'm sorry." Kyousuke says, surprising Erza. She just looked down at the ground and smiled.

"You don't need to apologize." Erza tells Kyousuke. Kyousuke let out a sigh in response.

"Well, it's just…" Kyousuke starts to explain as Erza looks up to him. He was looking down at the ground in a depressed way.

"I know what it feels like to hold on to burdens." Kyousuke explains. Erza was surprised by this explanation. "What kind of burdens?" Erza asks calmly, Kyousuke standing still. He slightly turned his head to his left, looking away from Erza.

"I'd rather not say." Kyousuke says calmly.

"I understand." Erza says calmly, not wanting to go through with the subject any longer. They stood there for a few, thinking about the situation, both in distressed moods. They could then hear Nozomi, Lucy and Wendy gathered around Natsu, wondering what's wrong with him. Pantherlily, however, came down in search of Gajeel.

"What happened to Gajeel?" He asks concerned. Erza hesitated to tell Pantherlily what happened, but Kyousuke instead told him a summary.

"Natsu said some harsh things and Gajeel needed a breather." Kyousuke explains which wasn't completely true. Pantherlily, though, wanted to know of his whereabouts.

"Where is he?" Pantherlily asks concerned, Kyousuke telling him that he's in the forest. Pantherlily started to head for the forest, but was halted by Kyousuke.

"I'll come along." Kyousuke says calmly, beginning to head for the forest. They started to head there, but they were halted by Erza.

"Are you sure you want to bother him right now?" Erza asks calmly, as Kyousuke continues to head for the forest.

"It's not what you think Erza." Kyousuke explains calmly, looking back at Erza and winking. Erza was a bit surprised by that statement. She decided to not warn him as Kyousuke and Pantherlily headed for the forest. Erza turned around and headed for Natsu, running up to him in concern. Wendy looked up upon hearing her footsteps.

"It's Erza!" Wendy says relieved, Erza running up to the group of three as they all kneel over the unconscious Natsu.

"How is he?" Erza asks calmly. It seems that Wendy has already started to try to heal him, noticing the marks on Natsu's neck and the blood stains left there.

"This is pretty bad. What happened to him?" Wendy asks worried, as Erza was hesitant to reply. Lucy, however, already knew the answer without having to guess.

"It was Gajeel, wasn't it?" Lucy says seriously. Erza was surprised that she'd make such an accurate guess, and she decided to reply.

"Yes, it was." Erza simply puts it. Lucy suddenly became shocked, starting to complain over the situation.

"I thought he became a good person!" Lucy says, starting to get teary-eyed over the situation. "I can't believe that he would want to do something like this to Natsu again! I thought him being a member of Fairy Tail made him a better person!" Lucy says upset, becoming angry with Gajeel despite him not being around. Erza suddenly then interrupted in slight anger.

"He _IS_ a good person!" Erza shouts slightly angered. However, she becomes surprised with herself when she realizes what she just said. Everyone else became surprised, especially Lucy. It wasn't surprising for Lucy to not trust Gajeel, still being somewhat haunted by the horrible experience he put her through when he was in Phantom Lord. To hear Erza say that, though, was a shock to everyone. If everyone in the guild would've heard her burst out like that, they would've been very shocked. Erza began to calm herself down, gaining a sorrow expression on her face once again. "It's just…" Erza explains, starting to breakdown as she tried to hold herself back. "Natsu had mocked and hurt Gajeel the most, more than twice as much than myself. Gajeel lost it, and Natsu was going insane." Erza explains. Lucy widens her eyes at the thought of Natsu going insane, and to hear that it actually happened was shocking enough.

"Natsu…went insane?!" Lucy says shocked, looking down at Natsu even more worried. With that, Erza got up and started to walk away, Wendy looking up at her in concern. She headed for the forest, until she reached its edge and turned a left, heading down there and out of sight. Wendy watched with concern, turning back to Natsu as she stops healing him.

"He should be fine. He just needs to get some rest." Wendy explains calmly. Both Lucy and Nozomi nod their heads in response.

"Thank you." Nozomi says politely, Wendy looking at her in response with a cheery smile.

"Of course!" She simply says, running off as she heads for Erza's location. She walks down a long path as she examines all the trees and the sky in the forest along the way. At one point, she gets to a point to where she sees Erza sitting on the edge of a cliff. She saw her sitting towards the forest, as there was a large lake beneath her and a bunch of trees past that. However, she wasn't just sitting there. Wendy walked up a bit closer and heard what she was really doing. She was crying. She could see Erza sitting there, having requipped out of her traditional armor and holding her hands up on her face. The past that Erza had with Jellal was in the past, and Jellal was fine. However, being told that she couldn't save him broke her heart to pieces. She was crushed. Wendy started to feel very bad for her, continuing to watch her as she kept crying. "Poor Erza." Wendy thought to herself upset. She realized that what she had said about Natsu was in-fact, true. She could hear her muttering "Jellal," constantly while she was crying. All Wendy could do, though, was just sit there and watch her. Erza suddenly turned around and saw Wendy. In a sudden sense of panic, Wendy started to hide herself until she was stopped by Erza.

"Wendy!" Erza said, getting her attention as she looks up at Erza. Erza was trying to smile with tears pouring down her cheeks. "You don't have to worry about me." Erza says, trying to make sure Wendy wasn't too worried with her. They just stared at each other afterwards, starting to calm down with time passing by.

While she was upset, Gajeel was angry. He was out in the forest, angrily punching trees while trying to build up more strength. He was so mad, nothing dared to interfere with him at this point. All that was running through his mind was the menacing things Natsu had said about him and the people he cared for.

"I'd be afraid Levy might die cause of you." was one of the worst things that ran through his mind. Seeing a smiling Levy in his head caused him to stop and grip his fists in anger. To think Natsu would be the one to say something so scornful. He angrily used his dragon slayer magic to destroy a tree in a fit of rage. What was even worse what that he didn't even know where she was. Was she _dead?_ Was she _alive?_ Was she _OK?_ These questions kept hitting him like a virus, and he kept going through the forest, angry punching through trees in anger.

"You'll never get to see Kyousuke again!" Is what Gajeel suddenly hears from Natsu. He paused for a moment, standing still and thinking about the thought of it happening. He was even more upset at this point. He couldn't help but hold some sort of grudge against Natsu right now, even though he knew that Natsu couldn't help it. He didn't want to really kill Natsu at this point; he just wanted nothing to do with him.

"Damn you _Salamander!_" He said to himself angrily. He held the images of Levy and Kyousuke in his head as he rampaged through the forest.

Up on a Cliffside, Kyousuke and Pantherlily were watching Gajeel express his anger through the forest. Kyousuke watched Gajeel like a hawk, tracing his every movement and knowing exactly what he was doing. Pantherlily was doing much the same, watching Gajeel the whole time.

"I've seen Gajeel angry before, but this is unusual." Pantherlily states calmly. He continued to stare at Gajeel as he rampaged through the forest.

"Well, I would've been the same way if I was in his position." Kyousuke explains, causing Pantherlily to turn to Kyousuke with sudden curiosity. He was surprised at what Kyousuke had just said, mainly because it was peculiar.

"So, do you have some sort of sentimental connection?" Pantherlily asks, catching Kyousuke's attention. "I seemed to notice Gajeel acting friendly towards you most of the time, which is unusual, in my case." He explains, as Kyousuke puts his hand through his hair, thinking about it as his fingers slide through his vibrant, blonde hair.

"You could say that." Kyousuke says calmly, pulling his hand out of his hair. "Though, I don't like talking about it." Kyousuke says, catching Pantherlily by surprise. He turns and sees Kyousuke staring at Gajeel still. At that point, he decided not to continue on the topic as well.

"I understand." He says, looking at Gajeel still as he's letting out his anger in his destructive way. While staring at Gajeel, Kyousuke couldn't help but think about the destructive things Natsu had said about Gajeel and Erza. He was watching him the entire time to see what Natsu was going to do, but he intervened once he realized that Natsu had went too far. Sudden anger started to fill Kyousuke as he pushed his fist against the ground. Pantherlily was startled and turned to notice his sudden rise of anger.

"Nothing makes sense!" Kyousuke says angered, "A mark appears on Natsu and he's gone mad twice now!"

"Twice?" Pantherlily says surprised, Kyousuke angrily explaining.

"He kept attacking something that none of us could see, and he was screaming in a rage." Kyousuke explains, shaking his head in disappointment while surprising Pantherlily greatly. He didn't show it though, and he turned back to look down at the forest. However, Gajeel wasn't in the forest of trees anymore. Pantherlily started to look around for him in worry.

"What the?! Where did he go?" Pantherlily says, eyeing the entire forest like a hawk searching for prey. Kyousuke doesn't move a single muscle, however. Suddenly, Gajeel pops up, landing in-front of the two with a serious look on his face, no longer in his Iron Dragon Force. It turns out that he had noticed the two and climbed up to them for some reason.

"So you noticed us?" Kyousuke says slightly surprised, Gajeel looking off in another direction.

"I don't like it when people stare at me, so just go away and leave me alone, you got it?" Gajeel says straightforwardly to them both. He starts to walk away from them, preparing to head back while not noticing the surprised reaction that Pantherlily got from that response. Kyousuke however, changed things a bit.

"Is _that _what you _really _want?" Kyousuke says calmly, yet convincingly. Gajeel suddenly halted with widen eyes and a shocked expression on his face. He was never asked such a question before. People usually just let him do his thing whenever he wanted to, and they never seemed to be concerned with him. He would've never thought that Kyousuke would be compassionate about something like this.

"Why would it matter to you?" Gajeel asks skeptically, not turning around to look at him. Kyousuke gets up in response and walks to him. He had a calm and friendly expression on his face.

"Because I care about my friends." Kyousuke says calmly. Gajeel didn't turn around to look back at Kyousuke still, and he narrowed his eyes a bit instead. Kyousuke then put a hand on his shoulder, which startled him. He turned around in surprise to look at Kyousuke, who was staring at him with a calm yet elated expression on his face. "Isn't that what all friends do?" Kyousuke asks calmly. Gajeel then lost his surprised expression, looking down at the ground for a second before suddenly looking back up at Kyousuke calmly. He was much calmer now and he was ready to head back.

"Alright, whatever." Gajeel says seriously, walking forward as Kyousuke takes his hand off his shoulder. "I'm heading back." He tells them both, walking past Pantherlily and on back to the group. Both Pantherlily and Kyousuke stared at him for a bit, Pantherlily with a surprised expression and Kyousuke with a calm smile on his face. Gajeel thought about Kyousuke's words that he just said which had got to him in a special way. He felt different. "What a crazy person." Gajeel thinks to himself, gaining a calm grin on his face. There was definitely some sort of connection between them, and it was skyrocketing before their very eyes.


End file.
